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Re: (meteorobs) persieds photo??
In a message dated 96-08-28 17:03:40 EDT, you write:
<< During the persieds a couple of weeks ago I decided to set my
camera up and open the shutter for a while. I had thought I might have
gotten one rather nice meteor but when the film was developed I had nothing
but a bunch of stars streaking across my print. In playing around one
night I scanned in one of the prints and got blowing up areas of the print
and noticed one very small dim object that streaked a very short straight
line that didn't follow the stars path I double checked the print with a
magnifier and sure enough. I was just curious if this is and how many VERY
VERY short lived meteors they are. I mean in a 3 minute exposure in the
northern sky the stars streaked more then this did.
Brian
>>
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Brian,
what sized lens did you use?...normal (50mm), wide angle (28mm)...or even
telephoto? It does sound like if you got a meteor it was somewhere near the
radiant. If you used a wide angle lens let's say in the neighborhood of a
28mm, a Perseid type meteor(fast) would have to be close to at least a -2
magnitude. Seemingly bright. For a 50mm, a Perseid would have to be about 0
or -1 magnitude to register on a fast film. You will only have short meteors
near a radiant if it belongs to that shower...but short meteors can exist
further away as well. But you won't find long meteors close to it's radiant
unless it was a very bright fireball. I highly doubt you picked up a
satellite...these usually trail a lot longer. How long was your exposure?...I
also doubt you've picked up on a comet...unless a relatively bright one has
sneaked up on you...where were you aiming the camera? One of the advantages
of a rotating shutter by the way is that it tells you right away if you got a
satellite/airplane or a meteor with no argument.
George Z.