Topic: Meteor Shower (Oct 09) (Read 8930 times)

RedLeader · « **on:** October 16, 2009 »

The moon is a thin waning crescent today, which means the night sky over the next week will be dark and ideal for viewing galaxies in Pegasus, Andromeda, and Triangulum. But there's another spectacle this week... the Orionid meteor shower. And if the experts are right, this year's Orionids will put on a fine show.

Like all meteor showers, the Orionids occur as the Earth passes through the debris-strewn path of a comet, in this case, Halley's Comet. The meteors are simply tiny bits of ice and dust that fell away from the comet and ran into our atmosphere. As in all such showers, the meteors appear to originate from a point in the sky called the radiant. For this shower, the radiant lies in the constellation Orion. Hence the name.

The Orionids run from October 17-25, with the peak predicted for early on October 21. The meteors will be visible to observers in both hemispheres. Just look up anywhere into the sky with your unaided eye and wait. You'll see some eventually. If you can trace back the direction of a meteor to the radiant in Orion, that means you likely saw an Orionid. If not, you saw a random meteor. You'll likely see more meteors after midnight, when the Earth turns into the debris field of Halley's famed comet.

At its peak, the Orionids can display as many as 30 meteors per hour. That's just half of what you'd see during August's Perseids, but it's still an impressive sight. Some meteor scientists believe number of Orionids fluctuates on a 12-year cycle. If they're right, this year should exhibit a peak... so it may be a vintage year for this shower. We'll see.

Watching a meteor shower is a pleasant way to spend a night. But it's also fairly easy to photograph a meteor shower. All you need is a tripod and a camera that allows you to open the shutter for several minutes. A digital SLR camera is ideal. Point the camera anywhere in the sky, open the shutter, and wait. This is one of the easiest types of astrophoto you can take.

Source:
http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/2009/10/15/orionid-meteor-shower/

pablo · « **Reply #1 on:** October 16, 2009 »

nice one Jonno, i,ll be looking out for that .

back in primary school i spotted a telescope in the headmasters office(while i was getting greif) and i expressed an interest in it .
he asked me if id like to see some planets ,and that night i went down with my dad and we saw mars and saturn . amazing !

must sort out my dslr now.i guess youd want quite a high iso? and a manual shutter release(extension switch).and of course a solid tripod.

anyone got any more tips for photographing these?

obviously youd want to be in a spot with little light pollution .out in the countryside somewhere.

RedLeader · « **Reply #2 on:** October 16, 2009 »

I have an astronomy telescope but tbh I'm not very good at using it to find faint stuff. As far as astrophotography goes it's all about exposure time. You need to get as long an exposure as you can without getting blurring from the rotation of the earth. You could also put your camera on an equatorial mount which allows you to repoint your camera manually as the earth turns but they're expensive (£100+).

I'd agree about seeing the planets through a scope for the first time. When I show people Saturn they're always really impressed when they can just make out the rings or maybe a moon. Suprisingly lots of people see Saturn or Mars thinking it's a star (you can tell by how quickly it moves across the sky against the stars behind).

MG1 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 16, 2009 »

Will you be able see any of this with out a telescope?

RedLeader · « **Reply #4 on:** October 16, 2009 »

One of the cool things about meteor showers is they're actually better seen with the naked eye since they cover quite a large region of the sky. Only thing you want to do is make sure and be outside somewhere as dark as possible for at least 15-30 minutes - it takes that long for your eyes to properly adjust. Also, if you need light for something use a red one. White light will screw your night vision straight away whereas red isn't as bad (I use a torch with the lens painted red with the wifes nail polish).

IF you download the Stellarium from here:
http://www.stellarium.org/

It's free software that will show you what you can see in the sky from where you are at various times of the day. It's not too hard to use with a bit of fiddling. To see the Orionids meteor shower just find the constellation of Orion (the archer) and sit back and watch. I'd recommend listening to 2112 by Rush or anything by Pink Floyd at the time

Here's a guide to Orion but it's really easy to spot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28constellation%29

MG1 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 16, 2009 »

Instead of the music would a large bottle of Pablos favourite Beaujolais and large hand rolled cigarette

do the job?

RedLeader · « **Reply #6 on:** October 16, 2009 »

Quote from: MG1 on October 16, 2009

Instead of the music would a large bottle of Pablos favourite Beaujolais and large hand rolled cigarette do the job?

Sounds like a great way to pass an evening. Obviously I'd have to light a fire then too..

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Author Topic: Meteor Shower (Oct 09) (Read 8930 times)

RedLeader

Meteor Shower (Oct 09)

pablo

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MG1

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