Tried a bit of automated Meteor hunting last night. Got perhaps 4 or 5 on 'film' in >400 30 second exposures. (thank god for digital) - This is the only one that's both bright AND fully in frame .
Doug
Full Version: Perseids
No photos taken from up here in Kendal, but standing in the yard of a particularly spooky hilltop church between 00.30 and 02.15, through gaps in the clouds we saw maybe 50 meteors, a handful bright enough to leave trains behind them. Caught one in my binocs, saw it slowly writhing as the upper winds caught it, very nice. 
Nice shot, Doug. You can even dimly make out M1 to the upper left of the Hyades.
Didn't see any at all from downtown LA (surprise, surprise), but I didn't stay out long, either. Miss watching them when I was a kid in the mountains of western Montana with those dark, dark skies; saw literally hundreds every year. My fav was a mag -5 or so that exploded right in the bowl of the Big Dipper with a blue-green flash (or the head of the Plough, if you prefer); the trail persisted for more than a minute. Unforgettable.
Didn't see any at all from downtown LA (surprise, surprise), but I didn't stay out long, either. Miss watching them when I was a kid in the mountains of western Montana with those dark, dark skies; saw literally hundreds every year. My fav was a mag -5 or so that exploded right in the bowl of the Big Dipper with a blue-green flash (or the head of the Plough, if you prefer); the trail persisted for more than a minute. Unforgettable.
After driving east from San Diego about a half hour, we found a decent site to pull over and got to see a few dozen small meteors in about an hour. Forgot the camera, so thanks for the picture Doug!
I just enjoy getting out and seeing the sky on a summer night, and the shooting stars every minute or so is a great bonus. Though my S.O. wasn't as easily impressed - she said: "They should have called it a 'meteor sprinkle' rather than a 'meteor shower.'" It can be a wee bit difficult on a work night to drag one's spouse into the abyss, so I was secretly hoping we would see some Armageddon style fireballs to make up for the long midnight drive.
No big fireballs last night, however.
Still, it's amazing how much more one can see just getting out of the city lights... wish I had be able to go camping this weekend!
I just enjoy getting out and seeing the sky on a summer night, and the shooting stars every minute or so is a great bonus. Though my S.O. wasn't as easily impressed - she said: "They should have called it a 'meteor sprinkle' rather than a 'meteor shower.'" It can be a wee bit difficult on a work night to drag one's spouse into the abyss, so I was secretly hoping we would see some Armageddon style fireballs to make up for the long midnight drive.
No big fireballs last night, however.
Still, it's amazing how much more one can see just getting out of the city lights... wish I had be able to go camping this weekend!
Incredible how, after such clear and warm days, in this precise occasion the sky has decided to become...completely clouded... 
Yes...weather seems to often have an instinctive & obstructive response to astronomical events...sorry, dude.
There was a time when I never missed the Perseids growing up in Southern California
Lyford if you want to take some extra time driving over the mountains, from my experience the Borrego Springs area has perhaps some of the best urban-proximity skywatching in the entire U.S., especially if you go a few miles along highway 78 towards Brawley. (of course if you don't have the time, the skies around Julian are pretty darn nice too)
Nprev, I recommend driving an hour or so up I-5 from LA, past Castaic and taking the Templin Highway exit. Go East for a mile or two and find a clearing.
Lyford if you want to take some extra time driving over the mountains, from my experience the Borrego Springs area has perhaps some of the best urban-proximity skywatching in the entire U.S., especially if you go a few miles along highway 78 towards Brawley. (of course if you don't have the time, the skies around Julian are pretty darn nice too)
Nprev, I recommend driving an hour or so up I-5 from LA, past Castaic and taking the Templin Highway exit. Go East for a mile or two and find a clearing.
Thanks, Dan. I had to do Reserves this weekend, otherwise I was gonna head out to the Mojave around Edwards; this spot seems a lot closer for next year, thanks!:)
I grew up in a small town in northwestern Ontario, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement exceeding 10K people. I could stand on a back street in the middle of town and the Milky Way would still be almost as prominant as...well, spilled milk. When I was 12 or 13, I would hike out of town a few km, and the night sky would be absolutely incredible -- like nothing I've seen since, with the exception of the Mogollon Plateau in northern Arizona, which also had a very dark sky on the one time I saw it at night.
Of course, having grown up under such a sky, I failed to fully appreciate it until too late, after I had moved to a megacity where I'm lucky to see a half-dozen stars at night.
As an aside, it's amusing to me to read people get enthusiastic about the 'northern lights', since I grew up regarding it as a nuisance, almost as bad as cloud cover for obscuring the more distant sky (the town was right in the middle of the zone where the aurora was most frequently seen, being visible almost every night as I recall, whether I wanted them or not -- mostly not).
Bill
Of course, having grown up under such a sky, I failed to fully appreciate it until too late, after I had moved to a megacity where I'm lucky to see a half-dozen stars at night.
As an aside, it's amusing to me to read people get enthusiastic about the 'northern lights', since I grew up regarding it as a nuisance, almost as bad as cloud cover for obscuring the more distant sky (the town was right in the middle of the zone where the aurora was most frequently seen, being visible almost every night as I recall, whether I wanted them or not -- mostly not).
Bill
I feel you, Mongo. Sure do miss those dark, dark skies...
You could usually see a faint auroral glow in the northern skies of southwest Montana, but never to the point that it interfered with observing. One night in 1977 I got really lucky, though; there was a major flare, and I stayed up all night, up on my roof, watching them dance from horizon to horizon broken only by an occasional sporadic meteor...unforgettable. I weep for the fact that more people have not seen such magnificent sights.
You could usually see a faint auroral glow in the northern skies of southwest Montana, but never to the point that it interfered with observing. One night in 1977 I got really lucky, though; there was a major flare, and I stayed up all night, up on my roof, watching them dance from horizon to horizon broken only by an occasional sporadic meteor...unforgettable. I weep for the fact that more people have not seen such magnificent sights.
QUOTE (djellison @ Aug 13 2007, 08:20 AM) 
Got perhaps 4 or 5 on 'film' in >400 30 second exposures.
Doug - do you still have any of the meteor free shots that bracketted the successful "hit" - I'm trying to calibrate my image comparison mechanism and I'm finding that it's not very easy to get a PC to realize which shots are good ones.
Yup. Email sent
QUOTE (Stu @ Aug 13 2007, 09:41 AM)
No photos taken from up here in Kendal, but standing in the yard of a particularly spooky hilltop church between 00.30 and 02.15
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds
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