perseids shower 2010

jimbis

Was up at the sugar loaf from 11 till around 12.30. Saw about 20 and missed id say another 10 (others seen them).
4 or 5 left a nice trail that was visible for a few seconds.

Amazing, First time ive dedicated a night to view these and was well worth it!

ynotdu

ynotdu wrote: »

A live feed from the Marshall Spaceflight Centre is at the link below.
They have a camera pointed in the right direction might be worth keeping an eye on if all else fails.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/marshall-space-flight-center

Mind You the Chatters there are giving out stink about seeing nothing either
but the Stream is live two days now and will continue over more nights with the bonus for nightworkers\nightowls in Ireland of the time diffrience.

What looks like a better live feed is here from Spaceweather.Com.

http://spaceweather.com/video/

another good one here that looks good[only the first one is guaranteed to stay live tomorrow and beyond]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/watch-jag

and here.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/richastrolive

Columbia

Clouds broke up somewhat here (Kerry) for an hour and a half, about 50% of the sky visible on average in that time. I saw a good few dozen, counted up to 40 but then stopped, probably saw close to 60 in the end.

ynotdu

Columbia wrote: »

Clouds broke up somewhat here (Kerry) for an hour and a half, about 50% of the sky visible on average in that time. I saw a good few dozen, counted up to 40 but then stopped, probably saw close to 60 in the end.

Well Columbia[i like the username BTW:)] You have been very lucky only a small bit North cleared up at all for Me.
The five feeds from America are showing nothing except the odd Thunder clash or plane:)

They are situated in diffrient States and time zones[but have not reached the expected best time of 3-4AM Yet.
There are a lot of Pis*ed off posters on them thinking they were going to see something akin to a Snowfall:).

I am outta here.Perseids ususaly get so overhyped,any time i tried something went wrong!:)
G,nite!

amacachi

Plenty of cloud and broken cloud here, but I think I saw 11 (lost count at 8 :pac: ) while drunk, and missed at least 10, one of which was supposedly a great spectrum.

Horse_box

Absolutely sick I didn't see anything last night! There was a blanket of cloud where I was in Dublin, didn't break once

Is there any chance of seeing anything tonight if it is clear?

gbee

Wife saw one, me, none

Went to Mallow, cloud, gave up was heading home about 12.15 and took a back road and drove into a clearing about 01.00 ~ perfect.

Twenty minutes not one.

Sightaridis

Ended up seeing one at about 2am in a small gap in the clouds from my bedroom window, spectacular, I'm really hoping we get clear skies tonight so I can take some photographs.

Monkaa

There was loads of people up the mountains last night but the other half and I went alot further then most people near sallygap....was proper dark, no light pollution and absolutely freezing but we got two nice large gaps in the clouds and saw loads of them...was amazing! The first two I saw were enormous! Was really impressed...can only imagine what it would have been like if the sky was clear! When we drove back to dublin I dont know how anyone in dublin saw any, the light pollution & clouds were so bad!

dacogawa

Ended up going to Wicklow (newcastle beach) waited around for nearly 2 hours just as we were thinking about leaving around 2am, the cloud started to break, in the space of 30 minutes we saw 30 at least one great one that was so long we had to turn around quickly to see the end of it, must have crossed a 3rd of the sky, great view of the the milky way too

Builderfromhell

Anyone any idea what time tonight we are most likely to see some perseids. I will be wathching weather closely in Limerick.

dacogawa

Hi Builderfromhell, from around an hour after sunset but the best is usually from 12 onwards, the weather is a bit hit and miss though

Connacht
13 August 2010

Tonight

Dry with a mix of cloud and clear spells. Light rain or drizzle developing in the west overnight. Min temps 10 to 12

wylo

Another blanket over Limerick again last night, then it started drizzling just to rub it in.

Jackobyte

Sightaridis wrote: »

Ended up seeing one at about 2am in a small gap in the clouds from my bedroom window, spectacular, I'm really hoping we get clear skies tonight so I can take some photographs.

Have you done astral photography before? I was just wondering about the focus when doing it as the autofocus can't cope. Should the focus ring be turned to the left or to the right?
After I went to bed I was lying down looking out the window. I saw 3 more meteors and 2 satellites before falling asleep around 3.

Sightaridis

I have very little experience with astrophotography, however, my method of focusing is to zoom in to the brightest star, focus on that manually then zoom back out and shoot with that focus. Another option is trial and error, shoot a patch of sky and view the image on your camera or PC and see how close you are to the optimal focus.

Jackobyte

Sightaridis wrote: »

I have very little experience with astrophotography, however, my method of focusing is to zoom in to the brightest star, focus on that manually then zoom back out and shoot with that focus. Another option is trial and error, shoot a patch of sky and view the image on your camera or PC and see how close you are to the optimal focus.

Thanks, I'll try that tonight. What lens is it that you use? I have a choice between a telephoto lens or an 18-55 kit lens.

Sightaridis

I've only got a kit 18-55mm lens at the moment.

Riamfada

10mm Sigma Lens
300 second exposure
ISO 800

Taken from the top of the mound of the hostages at Tara around 10pm facing NE

Did not catch a meteor but gives an idea what to shoot.



What I would do is shoot at a high ISO and short exposures until you are happy with your focus then drop the ISO right down to 100 and extend your exposure as long as you want.

dacogawa

Big clear patch coming across from the west, enjoy it tonight

Sightaridis

Yep, it's looking good here in Dublin, time to get the camera out and hope for the best.

Roomic Cube

holy crap its a gorgeous night tonight, perfectly clear, i shall be heading out probably with camera in tow

mel.b

Still cloudy here in Clare Hope it clears soon.

lord lucan

Still ropey in West Dublin,felt a few drops of rain a few minutes ago. Hopefully it'll shift,i've a few cans of Harp in the fridge ready for the shower tonight!:D

skywalker_208

Very clear night!
and it has just got dark.
Anyone see anything yet?

Sightaridis

Not having much luck tonight, got a vast area of cloudless sky, but about 30 minutes of gazing has yielded nothing, other than a creak in the neck of course.

Probably missed hundreds while making this post!

wylo

I thought 12am was the time to start viewing?

Soul Winner

In Dublin and have just been out looking but not joy, the sky is clear nothing doing as yet... Will check again at around 1am.

Sightaridis

wylo wrote: »

I thought 12am was the time to start viewing?

Possibly, I just thought I'd have a look as soon as it got dark. I will be checking on and off until about 2am.

Flukey

There is no time. The amount of light and cloud are the factors that will stop you seeing them. Once it is dark enough to see the stars, you'll be able to see meteors. They are a feature of the night sky.

mike65

Nearly clear Sky out there willl go out for a while.