Perseids 2009
For this year's Perseids I decided to drive to the countryside not far from Basingstoke, and catch the pre-peak on the 11th/12th. For a change the weather was on my side, although the moon was a bit of a nuisance! I took four cameras with me which were mounted on two tripods, with the help of a Manfronto 131DD.
I actually managed to photograph more meteors than I managed to see with my eyes, despite accidentally turning the focusing rings on two of the cameras so that they were out of focus! Luckily only one DSLR was completely out of focus, and the others were not too far off. I captured at least 25 Perseids with the 3 relatively in focus cameras running from about 2100 UT to 0200 UT. Here are a few of the brighter meteors.
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 35/1.4 L @ 1.8
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 20D
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 800
Lens: Leica Summilux-R 35mm 1.4 ROM @ 1.4
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
Notes: Focus was out by a bit!
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 35/1.4 L @ 1.8
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mk. II
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 24/1.4 L @ 2.0
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
Notes: Doh!
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mk. II
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 24/1.4 L @ 2.0
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
Notes: I give up!
If you look closely in this image, towards the top left hand corner, two satellite tracks are also clearly visible.
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mk. II
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 24/1.4 L @ 2.0
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
I must have been looking elsewhere when this Perseid fireball appeared. It was bright enough that it left a persistent train in the sky that was captured on the following exposure...
...and also the exposure after that, although it was very hard to see by this time (at least 9 seconds after the fireball, probably more), so I have cropped and played with the image in photoshop to try and make it more visible. Note how the high-altitude winds have started to twist and distort the train!
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mk. II
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 24/1.4 L @ 2.0
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
That's it for the meteors, but here are a couple of other shots I took that I like...
Whilst the camera was taking this exposure a car happened to drive by and illuminate the field I was in. Although it looks like a ripe wheat field, it was in fact recently ploughed, and the soil was more or less bare.
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 35/1.4 L @ 1.8
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
Date/Time: 11th/12th August 2009
Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Exposure: 8 Seconds
ISO: 1600
Lens: Canon 35/1.4 L @ 1.8
Support: Fixed Tripod/Manfronto 131DD
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All images (C) Leo Stachowicz 1999-2009
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