Summer meteor showers are heating up with significant numbers of fireballs - time to consider setting up a camera or two if you have not already!

[Leo S]

"Meteor season" this year has started with a bang. A few nights back there was a small outburst of alpha Capricornid fireballs over the USA, which the UK may have caught the tail end of with this alpha Capricornid fireball the following night that was also reported by a number of people. Since then there have been fireballs detected every night by UKMON cameras despite lots of cloud being around. Here is an example from a couple of nights back and one from last night. The Perseids have already produced at least one fireball over the UK too although I've lost the link.

Of course my own cameras have managed to miss anything significant so far this month, but one fellow meteor imager caught a nice exploding sporadic fireball one or two nights back!

I realize cloud has been and continues to be a problem here in the UK (one of the main reasons my cameras have not caught much of late), and the Moon is also becoming more of a problem over the next few nights, but it's still worth trying to image - try stopping down a little if using a fast lens and using slightly shorter exposures, although this does increase the likelihood of catching an event part way through, so it's best if they are not too short.

The main reason I have resorted to imaging meteors/fireballs using video footage is because it copes with all of the above much better, but which ever way you try to image/observe this phenomena the more time you spend imaging/observing the more chances you have of catching something. If you can, run multiple cameras, aimed just above the horizon. I prefer 28mm (on FF sensors) lenses since they capture a bit more detail, but any lenses around 20mm work well, and almost any lens can be used although I think a faster lens can help.

Hopefully we'll get some clear nights around the peak of the Perseids this year, but at the moment it's looking like a potentially promising night tonight (could be cloudy at times - but that's not a big deal as long as there are plenty of gaps), and not much else.

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Leo S

[Elp]

Something I've always wanted to do but its usually cloudy during a peak, if not that it's near a full moon. The last good one for me was the Perseids more than five years ago, it was like watching a celestial god paint the sky with flicks of brush strokes. Whilst I'm usually imaging if I stay outside I usually see one or two at random, even from urban skies. Some of the best fireballs I've seen from here, one being a two second burn going from a bright green fading to blue flying directly overhead. Same night there was also a yellow one but shorter duration. When I was last at a dark site I saw a strange one which was around three to four seconds and it was fairly horizontal and seemed to drop altitude in a stepping motion, not like a typical one but I don't think it could have been anything else. They're great to see if you can see many in one session.

[Elp]

A GoPro will work well also.

[Leo S]

18 hours ago, Elp said:

Something I've always wanted to do but its usually cloudy during a peak, if not that it's near a full moon. The last good one for me was the Perseids more than five years ago, it was like watching a celestial god paint the sky with flicks of brush strokes.

That is the main problem. To experience a strong shower usually requires some luck, and for various things to align - weather, moon, and of course a good helping of meteoroids (hopefully large in size) to be heading our way when the first two are in place.

Geographic location is also a big factor. Not only does it affect the altitude of the radiant in the sky (which in turn influences the rate that you observe), but because Earth rotates, it can easily be the case that by the time good numbers of meteoroids are heading our way, Earth has rotated, and the Sun is starting to rise, so someone west of you gets the good rates. With annual showers like the Perseids, rates can vary significantly from one hour to the next during the peak (making it easy to miss the higher rates), and on top of that, in most years one side of the planet is favored over the other. If you are lucky, the peak rate will occur some time after midnight at your location, just as the radiant is getting to it's highest point in the sky, and that will give you a good display if all the other conditions are met as well.

While picking the right longitude is usually down to pure luck (most annual showers STILL don't predict timing accurately), you can put yourself at the right latitude to at least ensure if something good occurs at the right time for you, you are at the latitude that will give you the best chance of making the most of it.

What that means for those observing Perseids from the UK is that we are not very well placed, because around the time of Perseid max in August, the nights are still quite short, as well as not very dark. On the other hand, moving 15 or 20 degrees south extends the night significantly, giving you more of a chance of catching the Perseids at the right time.

I'm not saying don't try to observe from the UK, you can still have a very good show, but if you want to get the best out of them, then heading abroad is a good idea if you can. My choice would be the Canary Islands (I know a good site, high up - not on La Palma - although I have not been in nearly a decade), but there are plenty of other options. Just don't go too far south or radiant altitude becomes more of a limiting factor.

I do love observing the Perseids, but out of all the annual showers I've experienced that were not outbursts, it was actually a Geminids peak (perhaps around 2010) that really sticks in my mind. That year my wife and I headed to Wales (found a very dark site). I gave up counting after 1000 Geminids. Of course, that was a rare year that was not clouded out, and the one year I decided to leave the cameras at home!

The nice thing about the Geminids is that we have long/dark nights here in the UK at that time of year, so if it is clear, you have a good chance to have at least a couple of hours with good rates, and the Geminids will often surpass the Perseids in terms of rates, and even proportion of fireballs.

Along with the Quadrantids, that makes 3 opportunities a year for rates/ZHRs of ~200 or above.

If you are willing/able to travel, you could increase your odds of finding clear skies during a shower peak, which is what I used to do when I had a bit more energy.

Another strategy you could try, which again usually involves traveling, is to set your sights on predictions for outbursts and storms. There are a few that are expected in the next decade. I collected together all the predictions I could find a few years back and posted them here - note, for the predictions themselves, skip the first post in the thread and jump to the second post as I made a mistake in the first post that I could not edit.

Predictions are improving and worth chasing, at least in certain cases. If I had not traveled to Australia in Nov 2001 I would hot have observed rates exceeding 2500 per hour (actual observed rate v.s ZHR which would have been 3500+). To be honest the best part was not the rates themselves, but the earthgrazers that preceded the storm.

We will likely see new/better predictions soon I'm sure, but in the meantime it's always worth trying to observe a few nights around the predicted peak nights of the major annual showers (I would not rule out not so major showers too), since there are still gaps in our knowledge and surprises can still happen, like the unexpected 200 ZHR outburst of Perseids that occurred in 2021 something like 48 hrs after the predicted peak. Although "only" 200 ZHR, it could just as easily have been 1000 ZHR. ZHR is not everything though. Don't get too hung up on it. I'd take 20 fireballs per hour over 400 relatively dim meteors every time!

Of course all of this depends on personal circumstances, and how much effort you can put in, but if you can put in the effort it's usually rewarded. I'm happy to stay put, and hope that I catch some surprises if I observe/set up cameras when it's clear from home, but toying with the idea of a potential storm of Perseids over the US in 2028!

 

18 hours ago, Elp said:

Whilst I'm usually imaging if I stay outside I usually see one or two at random, even from urban skies. Some of the best fireballs I've seen from here, one being a two second burn going from a bright green fading to blue flying directly overhead. Same night there was also a yellow one but shorter duration. When I was last at a dark site I saw a strange one which was around three to four seconds and it was fairly horizontal and seemed to drop altitude in a stepping motion, not like a typical one but I don't think it could have been anything else. They're great to see if you can see many in one session.

One bright fireball can make a night, but it's not unusual as you say for a few in one night, especially during meteor season.

In Nov 1998 it unexpectedly rained Leonid fireballs all night (what got me interested in them), and there is a fair chance it could happen again with a shower like the alpha Capricorns, or another (there are a few possibilities) that have recently been identified as having similarities with the Taurid meteor complex, which is now suspected as being responsible for Chelyabinsk as well as Tunguska - ie they likely have debris fields with large objects that cross Earth's orbit.

As I said before, and I can't stress it enough, there are BIG gaps in our knowledge, and it's also been a while since there has been a significant outburst or storm. It's why I try to always be on alert - cameras running BEFORE there is a hint that anything is up :) 

 

23 hours ago, Elp said:

A GoPro will work well also.

It's certainly an option, but I wonder if dash cams might do as good (or even better) a job, for less cost?

At the moment I'm using the Sony a7SII with fast lenses for footage, as that will likely produce much higher quality footage due to the high sensitivity @ higher ISOs than the best GoPros/Dashcams. More expense, but prices should start to come down soon - they have hardly dropped in 5 years! Eventually I hope to have up to 8 or 9 covering as much sky as possible. I'm after detail, so covering the entire sky with a single fish-eye won't cut it for me. It can be good if a massive fireball occurs overhead, but they are rare - perhaps one in a hundred.

What I would stress though, is whatever you are using, it's getting the hours in that counts - so waterproofing and some degree of automation can be a good idea. I know I've missed events because I don't want the cameras caught in a sudden shower in the past. If you look at the cameras UKMON runs, they are weatherproof and run as soon as it's dark enough, and they constantly catch fireballs/very bright meteors. Eventually I hope to waterproof and automate at least some cameras, but at the moment they are left near the door (or window) half set up, and ready to go in a few minutes.

[Elp]

One of the reasons I bought an a7s, the low light video mode is insane. Hasn't worked so well for long exposure deep sky yet though due to how the sensor has been put together.

CMOS are so good nowadays I've even caught faint ones on normal room monitoring cameras. Some zwo cameras also come supplied with wide angle lenses (150 degree, a 170 is also available) so powering them isn't so much of an issue either.

[Leo S]

11 hours ago, Elp said:

One of the reasons I bought an a7s, the low light video mode is insane.

Yes it is! Apparently it's even more sensitive than the a7sII.

Are you aware that you can record 4k footage via HDMI if you use a Ninja V recorder/monitor? Getting quite old now so should be able to find them fairly cheap. That also allows you to use "pre-roll" mode, where you monitor, and if you see a meteor, you hit "rec", and it will save footage from before you hit "rec", thus capturing the meteor.

 

11 hours ago, Elp said:

Hasn't worked so well for long exposure deep sky yet though due to how the sensor has been put together.

I had wondered how well it does stills. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. They've obviously made it such a "video-centric" camera that other aspects suffer. I suppose it could still do long exposure meteor imaging OK perhaps since no stacking necessary?

 

11 hours ago, Elp said:

CMOS are so good nowadays I've even caught faint ones on normal room monitoring cameras. Some zwo cameras also come supplied with wide angle lenses (150 degree, a 170 is also available) so powering them isn't so much of an issue either.

Interesting. I have not had any real experience with this type of camera. Good to know that the number of potential options is increasing.

[Elp]

I've been looking for a ninja V but even used prices are very similar to new, and it's another device to power, I've already got an SSD I could use. I've actually been eyeing a MK2 just for the in built 4k and I think it also has image stabilization for daytime use, but doubt I'd even use it much during the day.

Stills up to 30s I believe are okay, just standard shutter speed, not bulb mode. Lens compensation also needs to be turned off as well as long exposure NR. Taking a longer exposure, I believe the sensor is split in half so there's a tendency to get a weird amp glow pattern on one side of the image, the worst thing is a green/red ring pattern becomes evident from mid to the edges, and it doesn't calibrate out with flat frames, with stacking the effect is obviously amplified but i can still see it in single images. I've been told to try to get the histogram peak up to more than half by increasing the ISO but havent got around to trying it yet. I do want to get some deep sky results with it due to the large pixels, I think it will also make a great live view device through a telescope. But primarily it was acquired for the video, I've already done a dark sky test and the view was similar to what you could see visually (moon was out), stars were blinking a bit but I'm sure it'll capture meteors great.

[Leo S]

On 31/07/2023 at 18:19, Elp said:

I've been looking for a ninja V but even used prices are very similar to new, and it's another device to power, I've already got an SSD I could use. I've actually been eyeing a MK2 just for the in built 4k and I think it also has image stabilization for daytime use, but doubt I'd even use it much during the day.

I'm a little surprised prices have not fallen much yet. I suppose being a bit niche and a useful bit of kit (mostly if you are a film maker) helps keep the prices up.

I would say go for the Mk2 as well. For me the only advantage is I could leave it running/recording for hours if need be, but that's only happened once in 2.5 years. That said, I have not fully explored Slog2, and it sounds like it could potentially be quite useful.

As you say, it also uses valuable power, and is basically redundant if you have the Mk2. The Mk2 is also very portable - less so when adding a Ninja and all it's requirements. I have not tried the Mk2, but apparently the Mk1 is good for lightning photography (scroll down to image) , so the Mk2 should be also.

 

On 31/07/2023 at 18:19, Elp said:

Stills up to 30s I believe are okay, just standard shutter speed, not bulb mode. Lens compensation also needs to be turned off as well as long exposure NR. Taking a longer exposure, I believe the sensor is split in half so there's a tendency to get a weird amp glow pattern on one side of the image, the worst thing is a green/red ring pattern becomes evident from mid to the edges, and it doesn't calibrate out with flat frames, with stacking the effect is obviously amplified but i can still see it in single images. I've been told to try to get the histogram peak up to more than half by increasing the ISO but havent got around to trying it yet. I do want to get some deep sky results with it due to the large pixels, I think it will also make a great live view device through a telescope. But primarily it was acquired for the video, I've already done a dark sky test and the view was similar to what you could see visually (moon was out), stars were blinking a bit but I'm sure it'll capture meteors great.

Thanks for the summary. A shame it can't do it all well, but frankly it does low light video so well it's amazing that it can do anything else at all. I don't think many buy a7S series cameras for stills primarily. All of my Mk2s were bought used and have low or very low shutter counts - I can't ever remember coming across one that had more than one or two thousand shots on it either!

Live viewing through a telescope would be great I think too. I don't have one, but at some point (and I've been meaning to do this for a while) I want to try one on the Canon 800/5.6, and also the Leica 180/2, although not sure what I'd target.

PS. If you do buy a Mk2, make sure to take test shots as you would dark frames, to test your amp glow. Some Mk2 examples perform better than others in that department, although even the bad examples I've come across thus far are still perfectly usable, in my eyes at least.

Someone posted a thread over on Cloudy Nights (IIRC) a few months back where you can see the results of the tests we did - I'll try to find a link...

Edited August 4, 2023 by Leo S
clarification

[Leo S]

It was not CN after all but DPR:

a7s II Amp Glow question - Experts needed!

[Elp]

Mine does that above 100K, more like 200K. But the stills issue is something else entirely:

https://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/sony_concentric_rings.html

One thing I haven't tried yet which was suggested is to try to get the histogram peak in the centre of the graph by upping the ISO.

In the end its much easier just using a Canon if you're doing stills.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Elp

[Leo S]

Did you mean "20K"? That said, those amp glow examples were pushed to effective ISOs of many hundreds of K.

As you say, may as well stick with the tried and tested Canon bodies for stills. Before I started collecting a7SII bodies I built up a small collection of EOS DSLRs so I could cover a good part of the sky when imaging meteors, and those will (if the opportunity arises) compliment the Sony's while they record footage.

I'm quite partial to the 1D series bodies, which I also use for other things besides astro, but I don't think I've ever come across any examples of anyone using them for DSOs (not that I've actively searched). While I must admit I've not really attempted to image DSOs much yet myself (imaging meteors has always taken priority), I would have though the sensors would be well suited to it. In particular the 1DX II with it's big pixels, but I also still love the output from the 1Ds II. One day I'll have to give it a try myself!

[Elp]

Iso 100000 to 200000, it does become noisy with a red tint though. The a7s mk1 goes up to ISO400k. I haven't really used it much though so the above figure where the amp glow becomes noticeable could be wrong.

If you've got the lenses try the Canon, I had a 600D which was decent and used it for DSO typically at ISO1600. For wide field the 14mm Samyang was great but only in dark skies, the lens is too wide and curved to use in semi urban areas as it'll pick up on stray light sources, be great for meteor showers though.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Elp

[Leo S]

39 minutes ago, Elp said:

Iso 100000 to 200000, it does become noisy with a red tint though. The a7s mk1 goes up to ISO400k. I haven't really used it much though so the above figure where the amp glow becomes noticeable could be wrong.

I'd forgotten the Mk1 went that high! I think for me about 100K is the highest I can tolerate (in terms of noise), but I'm usually happy with 60K or even under for meteors, even if it's quite dark.

39 minutes ago, Elp said:

If you've got the lenses try the Canon, I had a 600D which was decent and used it for DSO typically at ISO1600. For wide field the 14mm Samyang was great but only in dark skies, the lens is too wide and curved to use in semi urban areas as it'll pick up on stray light sources, be great for meteor showers though.

Lacking much modern in the 50-150mm range, but just about every other FL covered with fast primes. I'm itching to try the EF 800/5.6 - may as well try it on the 1DX II if I'm going to be getting the EQ mount out!

[Leo S]

Had the cameras out last night after it started to clear here @ around 22:00, but it clouded up again, and only cleared 1-2 hrs later. Never the less, it was a busy night from the word go. One camera caught this exploding sporadic after just 25 minutes, albeit through the cloud. It was also reported, possibly by our very own @andrew63?

There were also many negative magnitude Perseids, and the cameras caught at least 5 candidates. I'll try and post a clip or two soon, but tonight also looks fairly clear, so it might have to wait a bit!

[andrew63]

Yes indeed, it was a fine view!

[Leo S]

Good stuff! Fingers crossed for tonight, although it's looking a little cloudy. Just started to rain here!

[Leo S]

Some nice fireballs around tonight. From UKMON:

Edited August 13, 2023 by Leo S
removed extra image

[Elp]

Finally clear last night after weeks, probably the only chance I'll get to see the Perseids this year:

 

 

[andrew63]

I saw a lovely orange Perseid mentioned in observing section. Well unbelievably I've captured an image of it also ☄️  10.25 BST IPhone in meteor mode.  The bright star is Altair.

[Leo S]

5 hours ago, Elp said:

Finally clear last night after weeks, probably the only chance I'll get to see the Perseids this year:

 

 

Nice compilation. Was the little meteor followed about a second later by the long meteor at around the 14s mark, real time? I caught the exact same pair I'm fairly sure!

[Leo S]

8 minutes ago, andrew63 said:

I saw a lovely orange Perseid mentioned in observing section. Well unbelievably I've captured an image of it also ☄️  10.25 BST IPhone in meteor mode.  The bright star is Altair.

Nice catch! There have been quite a few bright meteors around the last few nights, although last night felt a bit slower here than the previous nights.

[Leo S]

Here is the sporadic Andrew, and one of my cameras managed to observe a few nights back:

And here's another the camera caught a couple of nights back, also reported by a number of people:

 

[andrew63]

Thank you for sharing the footage Leo S ☄️ good to have confirmation of it.

Edited August 10, 2023 by andrew63
spell

[Elp]

58 minutes ago, Leo S said:

Nice compilation. Was the little meteor followed about a second later by the long meteor at around the 14s mark, real time? I caught the exact same pair I'm fairly sure!

That twin one was at the same time one after the other, all of them are at real time covering around an hour. Visually I probably only saw 2-3, one even happened as I was taking flats for my imaging scope with my back turned. Haven't seen any true fireballs, I did see two very bright trailing ones though during one of the Geminids, they were bright enough to etch their trails onto your eyeballs for a second or two, one was a bright blue/green/teal right across the sky above, the other was a shorter yellow one.

[Leo S]

17 hours ago, andrew63 said:

Thank you for sharing the footage Leo S ☄️ good to have confirmation of it.

You've very welcome Andrew.