Draconid meteor shower

Messages
88
Edit My Images
Yes
Anyone heard about this on this saturday and is anyone going to be taking up some shots of it? Im going to have to have ago my self but i've never seen a meteor shower before let alone do I have any ideas of how to snap them and unfortunatle the brightest lens I got is a 50mm f1.7 which isn't exactly wide angle or theres my standard 18-55mm 3.5 standard lens any tips and trick to make a great shot please let me know
 
well its supposed to be quite spectacular and possibly a meteor storm. with thousands per hour passing through the sky, but apparently aiming the camera north west is best but the moon light might block them, and also I live near london which is the biggest problem, so i was thinking of heading to seven sisters cliff... I know thats south but I dunno anywhere else thats very dark away from city lights thats not too far away.
Also regarding long exposures Im worried that this would make blurr the shower and make normal stars look like a shower
 
Tripod - essential. 30 seconds wont be enough to blur the stars. As I recall the Draconids may be plentiful but it's also one of the less dramatic showers, producing lots of fairly dim meteors. Just had a look at the forecast myself and for some reason they're predicting a good one. Would be nice if they could arrange appropriate weather as well.

It may be worth your while approaching one of the local astro clubs for recommendations about good, local spotting locations.
 
It's almost certainly going to be as dull as it normally is (5 - 10 meteors per hour). And it'll be cloudy. And there's a near-full Moon which will drown out all but the brightest. And even those predicting a storm can't agree on the peak time. But I'll be out there on Saturday night.

For the OP -

Use your 18-55 at 18mm in manual exposure and focus. Focus on something very far away and use the following exposure settings - f4, 10s, ISO800. Stick the camera on a good tripod, point it due north and use a remote to keep taking shots from when it gets dark to as late as you like (although I'll be giving up if there's nowt by 23:00).

You don't need to come all the way down here to the Sussex coast for some darker skies. Between East Grinstead and Tonbridge you should be able to find a suitable location.
 
If you can a dark site is really needed for this one.

Apparently due to start around 6pm ish

Also have to hope for no clouds !!
 
Back
Top