Astro photography
II


Perseid

Perseid Meteors, August 12, 2008. The annual Perseid Meteor Shower reached its peak of activity during the early hours of August 12th. The weather was perfect, and I spent about an hour photographing the event. I lost track of the number of meteors I observed, but there seemed to be at least one per minute in some part of the sky.

This photograph shows two of the brighter Perseids which streaked across the sky at 3:02 and 3:13 a.m. EDT. The field of view is centred on the region between the constellations Cygnus and Cassiopeia. Each of these meteors covers about nine degrees of the sky. If the angle between the two meteors is followed back, it meets at the radiant point in the constellation Perseus, which gives the meteor shower its name.

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Steve Irvine
R.R. # 2
Wiarton, Ontario
Canada N0H 2T0
(519) 534 2175
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