The Stars at Night...

Last week, the Perseid meteor shower hit its peak as it passed by earth and many stargzers went out to get a look at one of the shooting stars in the night sky. I like my sleep, but since there was supposed to be less, but more colorful "earthgrazers" before 10 or 11pm, I decided to head out with my camera and try my luck.

While I saw several brilliant shooting stars, the camera was aimed the wrong way each time. I did get some nice night pictures of the stars. I don't know a lot about astronomy, but I think this is the big dipper (or is it the little dipper?). I'm sure someone can confirm or correct me.

I think my favorite shot of the night is this one. I used a long exposure and then added a bit of light on the cactus with my LED flashlight. It seems a bit grainy when blown up too big, but as long as I don't blow it up too big, I like it.

Shooting Stars

I heard about this on Friday afternoon:

Astronomers expect the Quadrantid meteor shower tonight

So I decided to forgo my customary sleep in Saturday and get up early with my camera and try and get some neat pictures.

It was a challenge to get out of bed, but my lovely wife wanted to see the shower as well so she asked me to open the curtains on my way out. As I was getting ready, I heard her go "ooh" and "ahh". She saw enough shooting stars from bed that she got up and put a robe on to get a better view.

I decided to drive a bit to try and get away from the neighborhood lights and maybe a better foreground than my yard or a "plain sky" picture. As I was driving, I kept an eye out for any meteors, but was not able to see the sky well enough to see any. I did see a couple owls very close to the car, but would not have been able to stop and point the camera at them fast enough to get anything but dark night shapes.

I got to a place I had thought would provide a nice foreground. That was a success and I did get a nice view of a starry sky with a cactus in the foreground.

I did see some meteors, but was not able to catch any of them with the camera. In order to get star pictures, I needed to use long exposures. That means that I need to guess where a meteor is going to pass by. I had a few pass by close to where I was aiming, but managed to be looking the wrong place each time. Maybe I'll get luckier with the next meteor shower, but for this one, I guess that will have to be my best shot.