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On Mt. Lemmon again for the Leonid meteor shower. The Taurids were peaking around this time as well, though there were only ~10 meteors/hour at best so I only managed to capture a few (and Andromeda at the top right). However, the Geminids are coming soon around December 13th with a rate of over 100/hr! Can't wait to shoot that. The star trails are about 15 minutes. Also on Flickr & 500px
Do you have a tips for taking photos of a meteor shower? I've never done it before but would like to. I'm from Tucson as well (but I'm not a native of here). Do you think the Leonid meteor shower in November will be something to photograph? our photos of the Perseid turned out great BTW!
Thanks :D I gotta find a better location next time, but this one turned out pretty good for a first-timer. Anyway, tips for photographing meteor showers. I basically just followed this guide from David Kingham because I had no idea what to do, but…
Get a camera that can handle high ISO and an intervalometer built in or attachable. Lens that has small mm length (wider view) and wide aperture to capture more light (mine is 18mm f/3.5). Extra battery (mine lasted 4 hours taking 400 pics but still, mine died with ~hour left of night and like a few minutes before a meteor burned up in frame which was totally lame). Tripod is a necessity. Have all of those? Ok, now go somewhere with low light pollution, set up your camera and take pictures all night. Blankets are probably a good idea too… yea blankets and mats to lay on, get those.
When picking a spot to shoot, having something in the foreground helps give a sense of depth I think. Keep the horizon in view by being on a hill or something because there were a bunch burning up near it from my perspective. Do that if the radiant is fairly close to the horizon where you live, otherwise you could probably do whatever.
You can just point it at the sky too but that is kind of boring. Also, you can either face towards the radiant point (like I did) or face away from it and get shots like this from Sean Parker.
Either way, you can just trace out the meteors and rotate them so they are facing the same direction roughly. It is just a little easier if you have the north star in view.
Sean was is in Tucson as well and was up on Kitt Peak for this shot. He was shooting at a lower ISO than me but he also had a wider aperture and a better camera sooo yea.
But shooting the Leonids might be a little difficult. They aren’t as active and there also happens to be a full moon around the peak which will ruin the show until it sets and it doesn’t set until close to sunrise.
I would just wait until the Geminids a month away, peaking December 12-14 with about the same activity or more than the Perseids. There is an almost-full moon then as well, but it sets closer to midnight than sunrise which is better. The Geminids are much stronger however and more meteors will be able to power through the light pollution from the moon. I’m definitely going to try for the Geminids and maybe the Quadrantids because they put on a decent show last time.
Anyway, good luck.
