2009 Leonid Meteor

2009 Leonid Meteor, upload feito originalmente por Navicore

From 2:20am at the peak of the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower. The radiant seems correct for Leo rising in the east. There is a rare amount of meteor detail in this shot. A particle streaks ahead of an awesome double afterglow and colorful train.

ISO 1600, K20D with an old Super Takumar m42 50mm 1:1.4 open all the way for 6 seconds and continuous.

I didn't crop or reframe the photo at all. The train even hung around for the the next exposure that started over 6 seconds later.

50mm isn't that big a field. I was about to switch to a much wider but slower lens. Glad I didn't, it is like the thing is posing for the 50mm.

king leonid

According to predictions, the famous Leonid meteor shower will peak this weekend.

The best viewing is predicted to be during the wee hours before dawn on Sunday, when you might see as many as 10 to 15 meteors per hour. But meteor showers are notorious for defying predictions, so don’t discount Saturday and Monday mornings. And don’t be too surprised if the Leonids surpass or fall shy of the predictions.

Even though the first quarter moon will light the evening sky, moonlight shouldn’t bother this year’s Leonid meteor display. As a general rule, the fast-flying Leonid meteors don’t pick up steam until after midnight, and by then the moon will have set. Frequently, the greatest numbers of meteors in any annual shower rain down shortly before dawn.

The Leonid meteors are named for the constellation Leo the Lion. If you trace the paths of these meteors backward, they appear to radiate from Leo. But you don’t have to know Leo to enjoy the Leonids. It’s like in a baseball game when fly balls go every which way through the air, but all come from the vicinity of home plate.

In the case of the Leonids, these meteors streak outward to all parts of the sky from Leo the Lion’s golden mane. And remember, after midnight, you’ll see more.

So, that’s this weekend – the Leonid meteor shower.

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Raining Perseids

Comet dust will rain down on planet Earth, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. While enjoying the anticipated space weather, astronomer Fred Bruenjes recorded a series of many 30 second long exposures spanning about six hours on the night of 2004 August 11/12 using a wide angle lens. Combining those frames which captured meteor flashes, he produced this dramatic view of the Perseids of summer. Although the comet dust particles are traveling parallel to each other, the resulting shower meteors clearly seem to radiate from a single point on the sky in the eponymous constellation Perseus. The radiant effect is due to perspective, as the parallel tracks appear to converge at a distance. Bruenjes notes that there are 51 Perseid meteors in the composite image, including one seen nearly head-on.

Credit & Copyright: Fred Bruenjes