Perseid Meteor Shower

August 13, 2023 - It’s been a while since we have taken astro images. The Perseid meteor shower inspired us to, not only, stay up late but to get back up at 2:00 a.m. Before we get to the photos, some background on what the Perseid meteor shower is and how it gets its name.

Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through the debris field of a comet. In this case the comet is Swift-Tuttle after two astronomers who ‘discovered’ it independently back in 1862. They didn’t actually discover it though. Records indicate it was seen in 1737 and before that 188 AD. It was probably seen between those two dates but pre-NASA who’s tracking the sightings? Prior to its arrival in 1992, people thought it could hit the earth when it passed by in 2126 but it turns out the calculations were off by a couple of weeks. Always nice to refine those calculations prior to causing a panic. The comet, which has a diameter of around 16 miles, is interesting as it is the largest known object that regularly passes through Earth’s orbit. Taking photos of Swift-Tuttle back in 1992 was difficult as there was a full moon. This image must have been taken from a satellite.

Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that is usually the size of dust to small pebbles. These dust particles are traveling through space at over 130,000 mph. When they encounter our atmosphere, the particles are pulled in by gravity and heat up to over 3,000 F which is what we see.

You might ask why are falling dust particles from Swift-Tuttle is named after Perseid. If you watch the direction the meteors are coming from, they appear to converge on the constellation Perseus, making Perseus the radiant. It’s actually very helpful to call it the Perseid Meteor Shower as you know which way to look even though the meteors have nothing to do with the constellation.

Perseus

The peak of the meteor shower was on the morning of August 13 at around 3:00 a.m. which is why we stayed up late, took a nap, then got back up for the peak. We saw lots of meteors but it is much easier to see them than to photograph them. If you want to see them (with your eyes), you need a clear sky in a dark area to limit light pollution (our deck). I find it is easiest to look toward the constellation but not focus on any one point. This way your peripheral vision will pick up on the light trail and you can turn your head quickly. With a camera you need to determine the direction you want to shoot toward. A wide angle lens helps as you can cover more of the sky. With the star tracker set up, we began taking long exposure photos. Since it is dark and you want to capture as much of the meteor’s trail as possible, the long exposure provides a better opportunity to get a good photo.

Here we have the end of the galactic core with two meteors. This is west and lower than Perseus. There is a very faint meteor in the upper left corner that may be hard to see on some screens.

The meteor shower will continue until the end of the month. If you want to see it, look north on a clear night from a dark area and get out of bed insanely early in the morning.

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