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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

- 2009 Chicago Perseid Meteor Shower -

It's that time of year again for the annual Perseid meteor shower - and it's one of the major showers to observe. Leftovers from comet Swift-Tuttle, the Earth intersects particles cast off as the comet made it's way through our solar System.

Peak viewing occurs on Tuesday, August 11 and Wednesday, August, 12, 2009 -beginning at 9:30 PM or so, but better after midnight, when the Earth faces the shower head on. But earlier on in the night, (if lucky), one can catch a "Grazer" - a larger meteor that enters the atmosphere at a sharp angle and leaves a long trail.

(Courtesy Astronomy Magazine)

Face northeast and look for the source to emanate from the constellation Perseus, which is now rising....but meteors can occur any place in the sky and at any latitude. Only problem this year is that the Moon will interfere with sighting of the dimmer ones. I have witnessed some pretty bright ones, leaving a ionized trail as they vaporize.


No need for telescopes or binoculars...just use your eyes to spot them, even with the Moon interfering. I have had great observation sessions from back porches, roofs and industrial parks in Chicago - where ever I could grab a good wide sky. Of course, a darker sky out of the city is superior, but don't let this stop you from looking up.

I will set up by Meigs Field/Northerly Island at 10:30pm and try to image these, (if clear), and stay until...well, that's unknown at this point. Keep abreast if "go/no go" via my Tweets: www.twitter.com/astronomerjoe or use my Astro number: [phone]. Chicago Astronomer members/readers are free to join in on the session...even if it's a work/school night.


Here is a pic I took last year, catching a single Perseid...

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In Ye Olde times, the Perseids were known as "Tears of St. Lawrence"

From Space.com:

"Laurentius, a Christian deacon, is said to have been martyred by the Romans in 258 AD on an iron outdoor stove. It was in the midst of this torture that Laurentius cried out: "I am already roasted on one side and, if thou wouldst have me well cooked, it is time to turn me on the other."

The saint's death was commemorated on his feast day, Aug. 10. King Phillip II of Spain built his monastery place the "Escorial," on the plan of the holy gridiron. And the abundance of shooting stars seen annually between approximately Aug. 8 and 14 have come to be known as St. Lawrence's "fiery tears."

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Good for Larry I say...defiant to the end!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

On the subject of capturing meteors on camera...

I'm using a Canon Powershot S3 on a tripod, which unfortunately is limited by a 15 second exposure time. So I must take many 15 second exposures or set it to video and hope I catch one. It's all hit & miss. I use a timer, so as to limit the vibrations.

But, for those who shoot in manual - set your f-stops high and ISO at around 100/200 and take a time exposure for about 30 seconds - (if your camera allows you to). Any more than the recommended settings and you will oversaturate the camera sensor - and your night time skies will look like daytime.

But it just might be easier to put your camera on a tripod, aim it about 70 degrees up to the North East and pop in a 4 Gb SD card and just let it take video. You just might capture a bolide or "Fireball", more commonly called.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It looks like a high pressure cold front will be pushing into the Chicagoland area tomorrow, and with it clear and crisp skies and low humidity.

Excellent!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Here is a short vid of the Perseids on the 9th, a couple days before peak:



Chumak says" "The brightest one occurred when the radiant was low on the horizon around 1:27 a.m. This fireball was at around -8 magnitude or greater, even with all the strong moonlight, some of the meteors are very bright! This one had a double explosion too!"
"

Meteor authorities are saying that there will be two peaks on the 12th...one at 12:00am and the other at 4:30 am.

Either way, I saw a nice blue one NNE in Cassiopia at about 11:15 pm Chicago time Monday evening.

Getting ready for my Tuesday night observation session.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's a go for tonight.

Clear Sky Clock shows that the sky is at good as it gets around here:

cleardarksky.com/c/Chicagokey.html

Humidity could be lower, but look at all that darker blue...just beautiful...


And despite the Moon, it will be a good one. The weather is very nice now...and will get better as darkness approches.

My observation site by Northerly Island/Old Meigs airport is about as good as it gets in the City - with the darker Lake Michigan before me. Maybe I'll bring the guitar and practice some.

I will bring along my kick around 4.5" reflector and do some Jupiter observing as well.

Here is the Jupiter Impact schedule for tonight, but it doesn't look like I'll be catching the transit:

2009 / 8 / 11 U.T. DATE , CM AT 0:00 U.T SYS I= 13.36 SYS II= 212.34

The Dark Impact (SYS II = 216) transits at 0: 6 U.T.
The Dark Impact (SYS II = 216) transits at 10: 1 U.T.
The Dark Impact (SYS II = 216) transits at 19:57 U.T.

None are optimal for impact viewing. (Too bad, as I haven't seen it personally yet.)

I will set-up about 10:30 pm and stay til....? I welcome anyone who has a free evening to join in and spot space rocks.

You can reach me at my astro phone: [phone]

[starrynitelover]

Hello Astronomer Joe,
I have the record for seeing the most meteors in a single night viewing... and I am known for being able to claim Mars as...
"a white spot" Will there be telescopes out by the Planetarium tonight or should I set up cushions on my deck?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Hey N.U....

No scopes by the Adler, nor are any needed for the Meteor shower, but I will have one for casual viewing.

The deck, faces east and is a very good spot for catching meteors as I recall...the comfy cushions are quite good too.

But the "Mars White spot" referrence is lost on me.

[starrynitelover]

hmmm seems to me we met under that single white dot that was Mars...that was quite some time ago...I'm ** now...and was only 18 back then... :-[and is it true that Mars will be the closest it has ever been...at the end of this month?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Heh,

I'll ask "Mogambo" about that.

And no.....Mars will not be as big as the Moon. If it were...we would have big problems to contend with. A bogus email...delete them all.

But, I know - you knew that already.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomers Observe the Perseid Meteor Shower
(Part 1)

I was excited about this Perseid.

Great skies and cool temps make for good viewing. We also had a nice small group to share the event with.

Starting out by Northerly Island, we set up our cameras by 10:30 pm...and there were meteors a plenty. Even before we could fully set up, many were being spotted - even with the glare of the skyline at our backs. And during the same time, the Moon was rising red...

The thrill of every astrophotographer is to capture a nice meteor..but we kept missing them - dang! There were up north, and then east and then overhead. We kept trying to guess where the stream would be and readjusting...but were unsuccessful in catching any in our cameras.

But by 11:00 pm, parks close - and Park District security would have us leave despite the influence Chicago Astronomer Joe swung. Sometimes you win..sometimes you don't. So we left, but not before a site #1 group shot...

Pictured: Myself, Fellow Adler crew Katie & Santiago, Jaik and Vince.

Off to a secret observing site of the Chicago Astronomer....

Arriving at the locale off of Chicago's Chinatown, I met with a Chicago Police Officer at the site, explained our mission, shared some common CPD background with him & made quick friends...we were in like flint.

Following a dirt road, I picked our spot, (as I have used this place before), and the crew spilled out to set up cameras again. This time, I arranged to have the entire night to ourselves.

;D

No extra charge.

Later on in the evening, I got a call via my Astro phone, if more could join up with me. "But of course", I say. I brought the kick-around 4.5" reflector and set it up to observe to Moon and Jupiter, (Which had some great lookin' satellite positions.) With the great skyline as our backdrop, the astrophotographers, (Katie, Santiago and Myself), started to snap away, while the rest looked through the scope.

Here, new friend Dan peeks at the last quarter Moon.

But again...we kept missing the bright meteors, which had now thinned to just a few and it was more looking for them than seeing any. It seemed that early on in the evening, when we started, was much more rich in meteors than later. A peak was supposed to occur at 12:00 am, but we didn't think this was accurate.

The Moon was really interfering with the dimmer ones, but nice bright ones still punched on thru. Katie caught 1/2 of a meteor in her camera - and didn't realize it until she started to review her shots...and she was ecstatic! It looked good too...(I hope she sends it to me).

I thought reviewing the pics, that I caught one....

But, alas....no. Just a plane. Sigh.

My friends who came later, left as their party of four started to fall asleep, but of course...pic time:

We resumed taking one pic after another, using different settings...putting our cameras thru severe usage....but nothing. As soon as we pointed elsewhere or looked down - there was a good bright one.

Katie and her friend Vince left...and it was just Santiago and I - trying to capture a good meteor.

I soon just let the camera take multiple 15 second exposures on it's own - (maybe catching one), and I played guitar to oldie tunes while we were searching for the next solid meteor stream...

At 4:00 am, Santiago's camera batteries wore out and we called it a night. Six solid hours of Perseid meteor spotting...and it was a fun night. Maybe a total of 40 meteors...? Not bad from downtown Chicago.

Two tired astronomers after a six hour session.

We will be out again later on to catch the tail end of the Perseids this evening. Same starting out spot by Meigs and then to the "other" location to finish.

Stay tuned for (Part 2).....

Ain't astronomy fun?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's a big "GO" for the second Chicago Astronomer Perseid Session Tonight

I have been getting calls via my Astro phone and it's a positive GO!

The skies are clear, the air is crisp and we are all set for another great extended session of the Perseid Meteor shower for Wednesday, August 12th.

We will meet up at Northerly Island by 9:30 pm, to set up and catch the early meteors. (Yesterday, there were many more early meteroids vaporizing overhead than in the later hours - despite the predicted peak hours.)

Moonrise is at 10:40 pm tonight and will make a good photographic subject. Stop by, take a pic with the Chicago Astronomer and visually catch some space rocks.

Also....

At 11:53 pm, the impact zone on Jupiter is supposed to transit and observable. I hear that the impact has elongated and smeared some...but let's see what we can make out.

But hopefully...I can catch a few meteors on camera this time.

[kamila7]

Hey Joe! Waiting to see how the rest of the night went, and on those great pics! Hope you guys got a lot of action!!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Second Night of Perseids and new friends
12 August 2009

The first day of Perseid chasing was a fun one. Getting kicked out of our first observation site on that night left a bad taste with me. I always have contingency plans, but I was determined to use the Meigs/Northerly Island site for the duration of the observation session for the second night. I talked with a supervisor about the Chicago Astronomers wanting to observe & photograph the meteors - and we were cleared to stay as long as we wanted...which is what I should have done the first night. Although park security eyed us all night, we were not bothered by anybody. A real special treat and I fully thank the Park Police & Harbor Patrol for their courtesy.

I got to the Northerly Island site at 9:30 pm to set up and get my angles down. My Astro Phone rang throughout the night with eager participants desiring to join in or with questions. The only caveat was that the parks close at 11:00pm - and although those already present were fine to stay, late arrivals were turned away by park security.

Navy Pier shot off their Wednesday fireworks in the near distance and musician "Jason Mraz" was practicing before his concert on Thursday...and providing background entertainment.

Chicago Astronomers and enthusiasts filtered in throughout the early evening, some new faces bringing their own chairs and others improvising...

Darrell making any flat surface his own...


Hope and Patty with foldable chairs...


and Zak & Nicole on the hood of their SUV

This night's session will not be a good one, as compared with our previous one of the night before. For long stretches of time...there were no meteors - and I was feeling bad that our visitors came out for nothing. But slowly, some started to show..and all of a sudden - it was ok - with smiles and oohhhs. Then some more, some good bright ones too. And again, not located in one section of the sky.

The Moon was scheduled to rise at 10:40 pm and I had camera/scope ready. Offering views of not only the Moon to our guests, but Jupiter as well - putting on a good display of planetary banding and Satellite positioning...two on each side. John worked the scope and was answering questions/provided astro data for our guests. He's too cool.

Here Kamila & Javier peer thru the kick around 4.5" Reflector

Patty and I share quick pic at Perseid site #1

It was a small active group, searching for meteors, talking astronomy ...and discovering how they found out about this Perseid observing session - was through Google searches...and The Chicago Astronomer popped up high in the results. Sweet!

I had tunes playing for ambiance...some classical, some space themed, some ethereal. It adds to the exploratory nature of the event and I do it at the Adler as well for our visitors.

Here we have: Myself, Hope, John, Patty, Ron, Javier, Kamila, Zachary and Nicole

It was now about midnight and it was work/school night after all...and our group thinned out, until it was just me and the Perseids. I was staying for the duration and see if I could capture some via camera. When along comes my bud Santiago - camera equipment in hand - who parked far away, (as they blocked off the access road after 11:00 pm), and cabbed/walked to the site. That's dedication & enthusiasm!

So, the all night session was on - again.

I took the more Northeasterly point and Santi took the South Eastern, hoping to cover more ground and as the shower cone was rising higher, zenith meteors were very scarce and viewed closer to 20/30 degrees in elevation or so.

We shot hundreds of frames, (thank goodness for digital cameras and rechargeable batteries), but the elusive streaks kept avoiding our attempts. Trying to locate the meteor streams, we would swing around to where two or more appeared...but they were sucker teasers....and the vigilance continued.

I was using my Canon Powershot S3 for the meteor photographic session. ( astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ps3 ) A great camera without going into full SLR territory. I kept the ISO mid range, (200/400), and the f-stop in the 4.0 range in order to keep the ambient light pollution from "oranging" out the frames and mucking things up.

I started out making the maximun exposures that the camera has, 15 seconds, but I was annoyed at the 5 second wait for the shot to imprint to SD card memory - maybe missing out on a passing meteor. Kicking the exposure down to about 8 seconds on multiple timed shot bursts was best. ( I was using a 4 GB micro SD card in a full sized adapter.) Also, I was shooting in widefield format and in tungsten balance. (For the Leonids in November, I intend to obtain a widefield lens for the S3 to grab a larger chunk of the sky.)

I was taking so many pics that my batteries were warm. Not alarming, just so many electrons doing my bidding. I use great rechargable batteries called "Eneloops" by Sony. They take a full charge...and hold on to it without "self-discharging" while idle - as most other rechargables do. The AA eneloop battery is rated at 2000 mAh - and are of Nickel Metal Hydride composition. For this session, four batteries that my Canon takes, lasted nearly 5 hours straight of non-stop shooting before I had to swap them out for a fresh load.

I highly recommend them.

I did spend time observing the early winter sky at this opportunity, and to my shock - I caught glimpse of Orion...the bringer of winter:

Summer is going by much too quickly and not enough astronomy....but I do dig fall skies much better with an Autumn breeze.

I also caught the Pleiades, as Orion chases the girls across the night sky forever:

And the constellation Auriga, where off to the side, contains a variable star named epsilon Aurigae - which is due to dim within weeks and I'm part of the Citizen Sky ( astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=citizensky ), observation project - gathering data and sharing info with astronomers world wide. This will be a interesting research project.

It was another nice evening under stars, listening to tunes and remaining in a location not normally accessible to the general public for astronomical pursuits.

It was getting light now, but still hoping for some late meteors and still snapping away. I came out with ZERO captures, but Santi got one faint one. He wins and we take a final daybreak shot. It was 5:30 am after eight hours of looking up and only about 20 or so Perseids. It was an...ok session, for city viewing.

Venus over my Shoulder