Catch the Lyrid Meteor Shower in Dark, New Moon Skies This Weekend!

Catch the Lyrid Meteor Shower in Dark, New Moon Skies This Weekend!
Upon reworking and uploading this Milky Way timelapse video from last Summer I realized that it shows a meteor shower rising above the horizon just before dawn (toward the right side of the video)... probably one of the "daytime" meteor showers that occur in June.

You don't have to wait that long however, since the best meteor shower of Spring will arrive this weekend, just in time for Saturday's new moon to provide perfect viewing conditions. I've provided more detail on my blog post, and it describes how you can find night shooting tips on my blog as well:

Prime Conditions for the Lyrid Meteor Shower This Weekend!
http://activesole.blogspot.com/2012/04/prime-conditions-for-lyrid-meteor.html

http://youtu.be/ZJfF4cQ8R1Q?hd=1 #StarryNights #Astronomy #Astrophotography Blogger YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJfF4cQ8R1Q

Comments

  1. Stuart HornerApril 17, 2012 at 11:05 AM

    I saw a few last night.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Patricia DavidsonApril 17, 2012 at 11:05 AM

    Awesome video and info Jeffrey Sullivan!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeff SullivanApril 17, 2012 at 11:07 AM

    Thanks Patricia Davidson, do you have any clear sky nights in your local forecast for the next week?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rachel McFall KarrApril 17, 2012 at 11:08 AM

    Wonderful! I can only hope we'll have even half as dark skies as this where we're going to shoot it this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jeff SullivanApril 17, 2012 at 11:09 AM

    Stuart Horner Yes, they should be visible around Apr 16 - 25, peaking Friday - Sunday nights. Forecasts are for a good showing (for the Lyrids) given the particularly dark skies. Did you take any pictures? I'll probably be out shooting Friday and Saturday nights.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Patricia DavidsonApril 17, 2012 at 11:10 AM

    It's looking pretty cloudy and chance of rain on the coast over the weekend but Tuesday and Wednesday look good.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Darren Mc CarthyApril 17, 2012 at 11:26 AM

    I have a Canon EOS 500D and a tripod but dont know how create a timelapse, can you please explain more or less how you do it and during how long ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stuart HornerApril 17, 2012 at 11:33 AM

    Jeffrey Sullivan I will be out with the camera if the weather is clear here. The forecast doesn't look good though ;(

    ReplyDelete
  9. roma gApril 17, 2012 at 2:09 PM

    the hard part is finding a spot with no light pollution out here on the east coast...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Darren Mc CarthyApril 17, 2012 at 2:45 PM

    can anyone explain how its done ?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Rachel McFall KarrApril 17, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    Darren Mc Carthy there are a few good articles online about the process Randy Halverson uses for his timelapses. You can create one using a stationary camera on a tripod and manually taking each image. It helps to have a remote that you can program to take a photo every few seconds or minutes depending on your preference. Jeffrey Sullivan can tell you better than I can, but even a short video is often made up of hundreds of images played out something like a rapid slide show. This is put together using one of a number of programs including Photoshop. I've only done a handful of them myself so I'm clearly no expert on the subject but I hope that's helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jeff SullivanApril 17, 2012 at 3:36 PM

    Darren Mc Carthy To capture a single image in a dark starry sky, I use either 30 seconds at f/2/8, ISO 6400 on a sensitive camera like the Canon 5D mark II or mark III, or the equivalent exposure of 30 seconds at f/1.4 ISO 1600 on a Canon Digital Rebel (XTi, T2i, etc) or 40D/50D/60D.

    Have the camera on a sturdy tripod. Make sure your lens is manually focused to close to infinity (take a test exposure and zoom in on the result to ensure that the stars are in focus). Turn off noise reduction (and any self timer delay) so you can start the next exposure within one second or so, preferably using an external intervalometer (interval timer), but I've triggered the exposures manually and that works fine as well.

    Once you have 150+ images (75 minutes to several hours later), you'll convert them to JPG and point a couple of free applications at the results to have the video created, as described in this blog post:

    Create a Timelapse Video on Your Digital Camera
    http://activesole.blogspot.com/2010/11/create-timelapse-video-on-your-digital.html

    ReplyDelete

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