The annual meteor shower know as the Perseids is going through an outburst this year, which means sky watchers can view more meteors than usual, up to 100 per hour. Last night it was at it's peak.
My Nephew Chris recently purchased a digital camera, so we decided to head out into the darkness to practice our night photography skills and see if we could capture a meteor streaking across the sky.
We ended up in East Apple Valley, far enough out to get away from some of the light pollution from the High Desert Cities. With cameras, tripods, remote shutter release and flashlights in hand, we walked through the Desert night to find some rock formations offering a suitable foreground with the North-East sky as the backdrop.
Settings and more settings.
It took quite a while fumbling in the dark to get the correct exposure and focus settings. Now we are ready to roll... As the shutter button is pressed, let the show begin. I said, let the show begin... ohhh sooo slowly.
Actually, we did end up seeing lots of meteors, probably more last night than the previous total I have seen in my entire life. But of course, never in the area that my lens happened to be pointing. Eventually, both of us did end up capturing a couple. Not the iconic huge streaking fireball, but a meteor nonetheless. Did anyone else on earth happen to capture a photo of this one specific meteor last night? Probably not, so I will assume that I have the only photo documentation of this 10,000,000 year old piece of comet burning up in our atmosphere. Pretty cool. Gone forever in a flash, but mine to keep as a photographic souvenir.
Got one !!
At 2:15 am, we decided to pack it up after about 300 long exposure shots. We got a lot of practice in last night, but most importantly, Chris and I really enjoyed spending time together, soaking in a certain tranquility that only gazing at the heavens can offer.
Photobombing the stars.