Perseids

Every year, between mid July and mid August, the Earth, on its orbit around the sun, is crossing the orbit of the periodic comet Swift/Tuttle. Dust particles which evaporated from the comet nucleus, and which the belong to the comet’s tail, follow the comet along its orbit around the sun (1 revolution in 133 years). While passing through the dust cloud, these cometary dust particles enter the Earth atmosphere and can be observed as meteors, larger (though rare) particles as fireballs. Because the meteor stream appears to originate in the constellarion Perseus, the meteor shower is called “Perseids”.

On 12 august 2024, the night was clear (and very warm !), so, using a comfortable garden chair I  observed the sky region around Cassiopeia, Perseus, Andromeda and Cygnus to - hopefully  - catch some members of the Perseid meteor shower. The DSLR Canon EOS 450D was equipped with a rather wide-angle 24 mm Canon EF 2.8 IS USM lens plus UV filter. The camera was put on a table and, using a 2.8 aperture, a series of  (random) frames was taken with 10 sec or 30 sec exposures. Perseids could be tracked in 11 exposures (6 x 10 sec, 5 x 30 sec), while 56 exposures (14 x 10 sec, 42 x 30 sec) did not show perseids.

Perseids, 12 August 2024, 22:25 and 23:15 , Kempen (D), Canon EF 24 mm IS USM, Canon EOS 450D (UV), 

unguided, ISO 800, f= 24 mm, 10 sec exposures, aperture 2.8

Perseids, 12 & 13 August 2024, Kempen (D), 23:34 and 00:24, Canon EF 24 mm IS USM, Canon EOS 450D (UV), 

unguided, ISO 800, f = 24 mm, 30 sec exposures, aperture 2.8