Meteor capturing

[george7378]

Hi everyone,

I tried my hand at capturing some of the 33 Perseids I saw last night, but I didn't get one (although some of them did appear during my exposures). I was using 60-second exposures, which my camera locks to ISO80 for. Is there a reason they didn't show up, or were they simply out of frame? The camera is very good at capturing things like satellite flares (http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-widefield-special-events-comets/110699-iridium-flare.html) with similar settings, and they are dimmer and sometimes shorter than meteors, so should I be able to pick them up?

Here's a sample image (3X 60 second exposures stacked - I don't know if there is a meteor in frame or not):

Thanks.

[NickH]

Why stacked?

each 60s exposure should be used in isolation..

[Psychobilly]

Agree with NickH ...

[george7378]

I don't know much about astro-photography, but I just stacked the same image 3 times using 'addition' in GIMP to brighten it up a bit.

[NickH]

Just the base images will be fine. If you want to email them I can have a look with Photoshop etc, to see if you have any trails (just level/curve adustements)

[LukeSkywatcher]

I find if you invert the colours that any faint objects will show up. Here is the above image. I cant see any meteors in it.

[george7378]

Thanks for the tip. Also, thanks to NickH for having a little look. Do you think that an exposure like that would be capable of picking up meteors?

[NickH]

Yes, easily... set the ISO nice and highish (400-800) if you can

[LukeSkywatcher]

A 60s exposure on ANY camera will pick up a meteor if one crosses the FOV. You really dont need to stack meteor frames. You only stack images when you are capturing DSO's such as galaxies etc. The more frames you stack the brighter and more detailed the DSO becomes. No neet to stack images of meteors (or images with no meteors.........as if more often the case).

I'm not sure if ISO80 on a 60s exposure is enough to capture meteors but i think it should be.

Also..............meteors come and go in an instant. 60s exposures seems a bit too long. I'd say an exposure time of 10s is more then enough. If you shorten the exposure time on your camera does the ISO level increase?

If so then i would thing that that is the way to go.

I may be completely wrong. I am JUST starting to wet my toes in AP.

[NickH]

30-60s gives you more actual time imaging rather than the in between time for preview/reset/new image.. plus you will get more of the starfield and fainter stars in the image. high ISO just ups the sensitivity of the camera, but also the noise

30-60s is good

[LukeSkywatcher]

30-60s is good

Depending on just how bad the LP in your location is. I didnt think it was too bad from my back garden (certainly not too bad for observing) but experimentation with different settings etc has taught me that it is pretty bad (for imaging). I am stuck taking 5s exposures.

[NickH]

Good point...living near to Avebury in a very dark site, 60s on a modded DSLR with no filters is still doable, London ...2s if you're lucky

[LukeSkywatcher]

2s in London?

Good god i live 20 miles south of Dublin and all i can do is 5s.

I think i need to move.