The Perseid Meteor Shower

dacogawa

ps200306 wrote: »

What time did you get those snaps at? I'm just a couple of miles down the road from you in Blackwater, but had it mostly cloudy while I was watching (1am to 3am approx.)

Lovely snaps by the way. Any chance of a quick summary of the camera settings you used? I have a Canon EOS 50D.

The first was around 2am & the 2nd about an hour later, it cleared off around 2 where I was & there were a few breaks before http://www.sat24.com/en/gb is a good link to keep an eye on for clearing.

Thanks, I think for those I used 2 different 28mm prime lenses (F2.0 & F2.8) with a 30 sec exposure. I haven't used that camera but it should be similar instructions. Set your camera to M (manual), focus to infinity, go down to your lowest F-stop (mine was 2.0) & set the camera for a 30 sec exposure, also if you have a remote shutter cable use it, otherwise just set the camera to take the picture in 3/5/10 seconds so you don't get any camera shake, it's trial & error at the start, try it with your widest lens, if you've got a 50mm reduce the time of the exposure to reduce the 'star trails' Hope that helps!

TheFense

ps200306 wrote: »

Don't want to deter you, and you'd be the latest of several people who've told me they'll be going up the mountains to watch the shower ("getting closer to the sky"), but the Sally Gap and the Wicklow mountains in general is the absolute last place I would go to watch. First, the Sally Gap isn't really far enough from Dublin to avoid the light pollution, although it's fair to say it'll be better than Templeogue. More importantly, it's likely to have worse cloud cover than practically anywhere else. In any kind of humid air flow, the mountains make their own clouds and its extremely common to see clouds sitting over the Wicklow hills (and to the leeward in east Wicklow) when it's clear everywhere else. I drive up and down to Wexford all the time and it's amazing how often it's cloudy through Wicklow, and raining on the Arklow bypass, but clear to the south.

So my advice would be to take the N81 to Blessington or beyond, or preferably even further west than that (but stay well clear of Naas) so that you are well to the windward of the mountains. You'll get there quicker and have a much better chance of clear skies.

Its a fair point. In retrospect, I cycle up to sallygap regularly and the cloud cover over the mountains can be quite dense. Appreciate the comment

ZeRoY

spookwoman wrote: »

Fingers crossed there will be some clear skies later and some good views. Got 2 pics the other night dont think the first was a perseid came from wrong direction 2nd one was.

That first pic is great, nice capture!

Dave!

dacogawa wrote: »

Here's 2 pics from last night on Morristown beach, the 2nd shows just how much of the milky way you can see from proper dark skies

Awesome. Where is Morristown beach?

Mickeroo

Hows the sky looking for everyone this evening? Very dull and grey in mayo at the moment, hopefully it will clear up later.

Dave!

Quite clear over Tallaght. Should be able to see something hopefully. But I'd kill to be able to see stars like in dacogawa's photos! :eek:

jamie72

We're at about 70% cloud cover in Dundalk at the moment, was 100% two hours ago, so hopefully things are looking up!

Anyone know if it's forecasted to clear later?

dacogawa

jamie72 wrote: »

We're at about 70% cloud cover in Dundalk at the moment, was 100% two hours ago, so hopefully things are looking up!

Anyone know if it's forecasted to clear later?

You can keep an eye here for cloud cover http://www.sat24.com/en/gb

The charts earlier said it would be clear from Dublin southwards until 1:30/2am the cloud seems to be moving a bit faster in from the north west now though, it really is a now-cast situation, the sat24 link is your best bet for checking your area

zenno

Too much cloud here in swords Co. Dublin typical.

Knifey Spoony

Seems to be clear enough in Cork City now. Probably at least get a good view of the ISS in 20 mins (should be directly overhead) and hopefully it'll stay clear enough for some chance of catching the shower later on. Shame I have work in the morning

MarkyMark22

Sorry to hijack the thread, I'm interested in seeing the meteor shower and just wondering if anyone could tell me what times I should be looking out for the meteor shower?

I live in North Dublin. I've been looking online for times but can't seem to find anything. Thanks!

jamie72

Knifey Spoony wrote: »

Seems to be clear enough in Cork City now. Probably at least get a good view of the ISS in 20 mins (should be directly overhead) and hopefully it'll stay clear enough for some chance of catching the shower later on. Shame I have work in the morning

10:59pm over Ireland for view of the ISS.

zenno

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread, I'm interested in seeing the meteor shower and just wondering if anyone could tell me what times I should be looking out for the meteor shower?

I live in North Dublin. I've been looking online for times but can't seem to find anything. Thanks!

Any time from now onwards in the north-east. The cloud cover in north dublin is too bad to see anything unfortunately.

jamie72

dacogawa wrote: »

You can keep an eye here for cloud cover http://www.sat24.com/en/gb

The charts earlier said it would be clear from Dublin southwards until 1:30/2am the cloud seems to be moving a bit faster in from the north west now though, it really is a now-cast situation, the sat24 link is your best bet for checking your area

I'm not a meteorologist, but it's clearly going to get worse right?

JaManSnowFlake

jamie72 wrote: »

I'm not a meteorologist, but it's clearly going to get worse right?

Nor am I, but I do often find that there are fewer clouds at night. I wonder what effect the cooling land has on clouds?

I went down to Sally Gap on Saturday night, we got a good 45 mins of reasonable viewing time, then the mist rolled in and we headed home. We saw about 15 meteors, two of which had very bright vapour trails.

Knifey Spoony

jamie72 wrote: »

10:59pm over Ireland for view of the ISS.

Well, I just saw it, but there will be a brighter, higher pass then alright.

DubOnHoliday

Here's the plan. At 11pm, dress up warm, head out the back garden on the sun lounger, enjoy the show

jamie72

DubOnHoliday wrote: »

Here's the plan. At 11pm, dress up warm, head out the back garden on the sun lounger, enjoy the clouds

Fixed that for you.

M450

OK, decision time, gonna jump on the bike, is it worth heading to Blessington from City Centre or will Bull Island/Phoenix Park suffice. I suppose it would be a pain to travel that far to look at clouds!

First time ever doing this but gonna bring the camera and see what I can do.

Seillejet

jamie72 wrote: »

Fixed that for you.

That's all I am seeing at moment.

Doing weights in my back garden to keep warm. Fitting right in with my Hungarian and Polish neighbours.

Choice between Blessington and Phoenix Park, I'd head to PP. Decieving how high it is.

Did Farmleigh tour. Built because highest point in Dub excluding mountains.

ps200306

Dave! wrote: »

Quite clear over Tallaght. Should be able to see something hopefully. But I'd kill to be able to see stars like in dacogawa's photos! :eek:

You'd need CCD chips for retinas. Probably would kill you, in fact.

MrJoeSoap

Going to check the cloud cover every 15 mins from now until midnight. Any clearance and I'll head into the Phoenix Park for a (hopefully) clearer view. Not very hopeful though.

123 LC

Is there any particular direction to look in? (as in north or south?)

keithsfleet

I know people are saying to not hit sallygap/military Road area but gonna head up anyway as I'm only in Rathfarnham.
If anyone is heading that way I'll be the one sitting on the roof of the silver 99 merc 2 door with the OH.

Jackobyte

Are there any particularly good viewing spots within maybe a 25 minute drive of Limerick City? I'd imagine I'd want to be heading northward to avoid having the light in my NE?

Seillejet

keithsfleet wrote: »

I know people are saying to not hit sallygap/military Road area but gonna head up anyway as I'm only in Rathfarnham.
If anyone is heading that way I'll be the one sitting on the roof of the silver 99 merc 2 door with the OH.

OH? That old we were looking at the stars excuse eh 👌😄

MrJoeSoap

123 LC wrote: »

Is there any particular direction to look in? (as in north or south?)

North-east. It has been mentioned a few times in the thread already. Have a look at the image in the first post also, if that helps.

smcgiff

Fecking cloudy in Limerick... no surprise there.

Anyone got a hot air balloon?

123 LC

is there a particular time, is now too early to go out?

MrJoeSoap

123 LC wrote: »

is there a particular time, is now too early to go out?

Any time from now on should be productive, once it isn't cloudy. In Dublin it's quite cloudy at the moment.