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Re: (meteorobs) Leonids - colors?(and film)

Theres another aspect aspect to consider as well....

The colors that you see in photographed Leonids depend on the film sensitivity to the wavelengths of light the meteors emit,and some films are more sensitive to some colors than others... so film selection should play a major roll in determining how colorful the meteor looks in a photograph.

From what i understand meteors emit most of their light towards the blue end of the spectrum,so it would make sense to choose a film which has good sensitivity to light at that wavelength(if you are purely after catching meteors and not too worried about how accurately color is represented).

Michael's Leonid photo has no blue in it(or very little) and yet this was a bright event which should have emitted the majority of its light at the blue end of the spectrum(if the above statement is true)...which leads me to believe that Kodak Gold 400 has better sensitivity to red and green than blue.

If this is the case,the colors (red and green) are actually enhanced by the film,then this would be an inaccurate representation of the Leonids true color...dot it would be interesting to compare photos of the same meteor taken on different color films..perhaps someone knows of such photos on the net somewhere?

I have been trying to find out for myself,which film is best suited for photographing meteors and so far haven't been able to determine which works best due to lack of bright meteors captured!(obviously i have since started concentrating on the faster films:)
I like to use slide film and have so far tried: Kodak Elite Chrome 100 ASA (push processed +2 stops),Elite Chrome 200 ASA (push processed +1 stops) and Fuji Sensia II 400.

My attempts from this years Persied shower can be seen at :

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=840536&a=8337112

The two photos labeled "persieds2k..." are on Sensia 400 and the other two Persied photos(with the trees in the foreground) are both on Elite Chrome 200 ASA(pushed +1)

I was in a light polluted area(LA!) when i took the Persied photos so i used exposures under 30 seconds.Lens used was Nikon 28/2 @ F2
(My inadvertently captured Iridium satelite burn is also there....I thought at first that it was a nice fireball,but when re scanned closer to the edge of the film,i could see that it had to be an iridium satellite and the fireball which i thought would be bright enough to catch on film wasn't!!)

For the Leonids this year i was experimenting and tried Fuji Provia 400,which I'm having pushed one stop...I've sent only one of 4 (36 exp) rolls which i don't think has any meteors on it,as a test..if the push works well then i will have all the others pushed one stop.The transparencies should be back in the next day or two hopefully!

I am also planning to try Elite Chrome 400 which is a little lacking in the blue part of the spectrum but gets a good review here:

http://www.connecti.com/~rreeves/filmtest.htm  (some useful comparisons of film for astrophotography including how sensitive to various colors some films are)

Sensia II 400 also does well,and I'm happy with its performance from my own experience so far,so ill definitely be stocking up on it and experimenting more with it.

Has anyone else tried photographing meteors with any of the newer films on the market or have advice on which films to avoid/stock up on for meteor photography?

Clear Skies,

Leo

At 23:04 21/11/00 -0400, you wrote:
Hello:

 A curosity question.

I looked at some other photographs taken of the Leonids and noted that
a few seemed to start out green then go to the orangish-red color before
terminating.

Have these colors been noted on other photos from 1998 to now and
if so would this give any clue to the Leonids makeup and to the "clumps"
that
Earth passes through?

Clear skies
=========================================
Michael Boschat
Halifax Center - Royal Astronomical Society of Canada

        My Astronomy Web page:
http://www.mscs.daldot ca/~andromed

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