Saturday 28 January 2012

METEORS AND IMAGES

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1833 Leonids meteor storm
All things Landscape I maybe, although i do go out into the late night trying to get  illusive image(s) of the annual Meteor showers, the  UK weather and Moon light usually gets in the way.
I well remember my late Fathers interest in the Stars, so one foggy night myself and Brother set out to see the 1999 Leonids Meteor shower;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids  , we made a trip up to Cleobury Mortimer to a view point, the mist all around we saw many meteors through the thin cloud, all colours Blue, Green but mainly  White coloured, and two or three Earth grazers. This trip sold me hook, line and sinker for future meteor showers trips, and the  ambition to photograph them. I had a film camera on that night but sadly it was too misty for any top quality image(s).

Recently I have borrowed a DVD of "The Walton's" series 1 Episode 6 "The Star", I'm not a big fan of TV or the big screen, but.........this Episode is all about a meteor that is seen to fall to earth by the Walton's Grandfather, who sees it as a harbinger of his final fate, but in the end it turns out to be his saviour. If you find time to watch this, be prepared for a sinder in your eyes :-) unless you are a unemotional cold hearted troll ;-) . If you were to find a meteorite that large,  you would have a thing more precious that Silver or Gold.

It's been said we are made of the same materials that our stars are made of,
 well ............those meteors were also made of star material, so whenever i see them fall to earth it gives me a strange Déjà vu ( literally; "already seen" ) experience. No firework display can ever come close to that old as time spectacle a "Meteor shower".

 THIS IS A ADVANCED NOTICE ; Make a date to see a Meteor shower this year and every year. Almost all the different types of Meteor showers display on their respective date(s), give or take a day, so it's easy to plan a trip to see them each year. See the IMO link below for dates on which to view them.
See Here for the Geminids meteor shower. 

The following  was my attempt two years ago to bag a fast moving meteor image for my archive, see here; http://www.amethystlandphoto.co/articles_155008.html   the main peek dates are August 12th; the Perseids and December 13th; the Geminids. On these dates this year is especially free from moon light making for a greater number of meteors to be viewed, so get out there ( dress warm two of everything helps  ;-) ).

I use IMO, a very informative web site, a good source of years of collected and up and coming meteor observing. Go to the bottom of the page ( table 5 ) ; http://www.imo.net/calendar/2012  you only need to look up the " Maximum date" and the "ZHR"  this is the amount of Meteors you might see in one hour!. If you have an ambition to become a Meteor observer, then scroll up ( on the IMO site ) and you will obtain information on each meteor shower throughout 2012.



Tip; press F11 ( top of your keyboard ) for larger monitors for a better viewing experience and you get to see the entrance of Wayland's smithy ( background image ).