Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks This Week

[Speed]

There are about three dozen known meteor showers, and about one decent one each month. But the Leonids are one of the two best showers of the year on a consistent basis. (The Orinids are the other)

The Leonids peak this week, so if you have clear skies, get out the tripod, grab a wide angle lens, set the camera to manual, and see if you can capture a few.

Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks on Thursday | Meteor Showers & Shooting Stars | Skywatching & Observing Tips | Space.com

[mattb]

Thanks for the reminder!

[armando_m]

My daughter and I saw one of good size :thumbsup:
around 9pm , so pretty early

EDIT: Here is a shot towards Jupiter, I was experimenting stacking images, but seems I got 2 tiny trails below jupiter , 1 red, 1 blue

[mattb]

I went out for a couple of hours last night and managed to capture a few. It was a fun way to spend some time too.


IMGP5814.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr

I tried some meteor summoning too. It didn't seem to have much effect.

IMGP5858.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr

A little after 11:00 the moon appeared so the meteor viewing was pretty much done.

IMGP5884.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr

[mattb]

I got a Flickr message from someone at the BBC asking if they could get in touch. I gave them my number and they called to ask if they could use my Leonid photo and if I could post any more. Unfortunately no money was involved, but I agreed hoping for some positive exposure.
BBC News Leonid meteor shower

Edit: Oops, looks like my URLs broke. Thanks for the head's up armondo_m!

Here are the shots I was talking about below (couldn't edit that message).


IMGP5814.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr


IMGP5858.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr

That spot is lens flare, I think. I didn't see that and was light painting so it might have been an errant beam from my flashlight.

IMGP5884.jpg by MattB.net, on Flickr

[armando_m]

Beautiful shots !

I saw your shot on BBC link, the flickr images are not shown

[monique06]

Wow! Nice shots you have there!

[monique06]

What type of camera you are using if you don't mind?

[mattb]

What type of camera you are using if you don't mind?

I don't mind. I used my Pentax K-x. The first two were with a Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens and the last one was with a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. The star shots were 15-20 second exposures so a tripod was a must as well.
Any camera with a wide angle lens, good high ISO performance, and the ability to do longer exposures should be able to take a photo like this (more or less).

[monique06]

I don't mind. I used my Pentax K-x. The first two were with a Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens and the last one was with a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. The star shots were 15-20 second exposures so a tripod was a must as well.
Any camera with a wide angle lens, good high ISO performance, and the ability to do longer exposures should be able to take a photo like this (more or less).

Wow! that's a huge great cameras and lenses. I'm planning to buy a camera this winter, and I'm not really into camera-know-it-all thing..I just want to ask if Nikon D3X would be nice...or there would still be better cameras for me as a not-so-professional in photography.

Thanks!

[mattb]

Wow! that's a huge great cameras and lenses. I'm planning to buy a camera this winter, and I'm not really into camera-know-it-all thing..I just want to ask if Nikon D3X would be nice...or there would still be better cameras for me as a not-so-professional in photography.

Thanks!

I'm sure it's a fine camera. I think It's hard to go wrong with the current generation of dSLRs. The problem for me is cameras that are too big and heavy that I won't want to lug around in the backcountry. That's what drew me to Pentax. The K-x is actually pretty small and light compared to other cameras with similar specs.

[Speed]

Cool. The wife and I looked, and we saw a total of two. I didn't catch any on my camera.

[Speed]

Awesome shots Matt!