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Old 10-19-2012, 10:51 AM
 
Location: On the banks of the St Johns River
3,863 posts, read 9,470,241 times
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Might prove interesting to those of us who will go into the cold night and TRY to get a picture...then come back empty handed and ask ourselves...what was I thinking???

The 2012 Orionid meteor shower peaks on the night of Oct. 20-21, and that night's almost-new moon favors a good show. The moon's absence from the pre-dawn sky during the Orionids' peak also means that bright moonlight won't be a problem.

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/orionids2012.html
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Old 10-19-2012, 10:58 AM
 
Location: Bliss Township, Michigan
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I might have to check it out, if our clouds leave.
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Old 10-19-2012, 12:25 PM
 
Location: Littleton, CO
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How important is light pollution for getting meteor showers? I have to drive 1-2 hours to get to really dark skies
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Old 10-19-2012, 01:01 PM
 
Location: On the banks of the St Johns River
3,863 posts, read 9,470,241 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snikt View Post
How important is light pollution for getting meteor showers? I have to drive 1-2 hours to get to really dark skies
I'll be staying out at the family farm tonight, so I will have to walk all of 100 feet away from the house to be in pitch blackness.

I guess light pollution could be a deterrent but not real sure how much would make it unviewable.
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Old 10-19-2012, 01:02 PM
 
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The more light pollution, the fainter the meteors.
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Old 10-19-2012, 04:37 PM
 
Location: On the banks of the St Johns River
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kdog View Post
The more light pollution, the fainter the meteors.
Makes sense!
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Old 10-19-2012, 07:57 PM
 
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Yeah, and meteors in showers tend to be faint anyway from my experience in shooting a few of them.

As for other tips...

* Use your widest and fastest (large aperture) lens. I use a Canon 16-35 F/2.8 set to 16mm on a full-frame body (35mm equiv).
* Use high ISO and a long shutter speed, but not so long that you get star trails. My typical settings are ISO3200, F2.8, 30 second exposures.
* Use an intervalometer so that you have continuous automated exposures. Many Nikon bodies have this function built-in. Canons require an external gadget.

What I do is put a fresh battery in the camera, start the intervalometer, watch the meteors for a while, and then go to sleep. The camera takes hundreds of shots over three or four hours before the battery dies. Then in the morning, review each frame carefully to look for meteors. You can run the entire series through stacking software to create a huge star trails composite. You can also make a timelapse video from them. Have Fun!!
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Old 10-19-2012, 11:30 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
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Well, it will be happening around 11:00AM in Alaska, or 3:00PM Eastern time (not starts for me)
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Old 10-20-2012, 02:35 AM
 
Location: On the banks of the St Johns River
3,863 posts, read 9,470,241 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kdog View Post
Yeah, and meteors in showers tend to be faint anyway from my experience in shooting a few of them.

As for other tips...

* Use your widest and fastest (large aperture) lens. I use a Canon 16-35 F/2.8 set to 16mm on a full-frame body (35mm equiv).
* Use high ISO and a long shutter speed, but not so long that you get star trails. My typical settings are ISO3200, F2.8, 30 second exposures.
* Use an intervalometer so that you have continuous automated exposures. Many Nikon bodies have this function built-in. Canons require an external gadget.

What I do is put a fresh battery in the camera, start the intervalometer, watch the meteors for a while, and then go to sleep. The camera takes hundreds of shots over three or four hours before the battery dies. Then in the morning, review each frame carefully to look for meteors. You can run the entire series through stacking software to create a huge star trails composite. You can also make a timelapse video from them. Have Fun!!
Thanks kdog I just came in from looking, but it's so overcast here nothing would helpto see them.
Maybe tommorow night!
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Old 10-20-2012, 11:39 PM
 
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We were considering a try at them but it's cold and windy here and that's not a fun combination. Cold isn't so bad but with the wind, ehhhhh.
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