7/8 Slow meteor zipped pass Stingof Scorpion

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ykchia
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7/8 Slow meteor zipped pass Stingof Scorpion

Post by ykchia »

Hi folks:

Not a great night Sunday night - some stars are showing so I went to a nearby field and saw Scorpion and Sagittarus easily. Jupiter still hung low in the western horizon. ( Venus and the crescent moon had set). In the north is the Summer triangle my south facing video camera had no way of getting the meteor from Cygnus... I aborted my original intention of testing with canon digital camera and remote...
Close to nine pm the video camera detected a meteor transversing the field,
here is the images of it.. and for those who are on broadband, the ~ 5 Mb wmv file is there..

http://www.ykchia.com/more_meteors.htm

Cheers

rgds
ykchia
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gwenyi
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Post by gwenyi »

superb !
kampang
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Post by kampang »

Truely spectacular! May I know what equipment you used to capture those fantastic shots?

regards
ed
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ykchia
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Post by ykchia »

Hi ed:

A 25mm f0.95 aspheric video lens and ultra sensitive watec 902H - running UFOCapture V2 real time for meteor detection. Any movement ( eg even birds) will triggered a avi recording of ~ 34 Mb per sec. I allow up to 10G per session... and delecting the non events the next day...

set up at http://www.ykchia.com/gifseqx.htm 12 storey up , sticking the video outside my window...

rgds
ykchia
kampang
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Post by kampang »

A very interesting setup indeed. Maybe you would like to enlighten me a little bit on the equipment as I'm not too familar with this kind of photography. Is the camera a ccd type? Is the recording trigger off by changing light level or rate of change of image position? Do you need to scan thru' the entire recording to sieve out the wanted data manually?
So far have you got something that remains unexplain?
Thanks
Regards
ed
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ykchia
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Post by ykchia »

Hello Ed:

Basically i am using video. The video streams is only recorded if there is motion movement. The software check for any difference between frames - if there is then a movement / intruder occurs and it triggered a avi saving of the clip. Through out the duration of this recording ( to hard disk) , a peak hold image is being build up ( so a meteor left a streaks ... ). The camera is no difference from any security ccd fitted with video lens. Watec 902H is one of the most sensitive b/w ccd. Since recording occurs when 'movment' detected.

Each avi clip is automatically named with date_time and i just browse through the listing of peak hold images, deleting any unwanted avi as I go down the list.
You means UFO or flying saucers ? No most of the objects recorded are known objects...... birds, planes, bugs, balloons, lightnings, satellite flares, my family member kick my tripod by accident. Still waiting for a big unexplain one to occur..

rgds
ykchia
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Post by NGC 5139 »

Wow! The meteor was incredible; very very nice
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Post by kampang »

A very elaborate and enlightening account. Thanks, have learned quite a fair bit from it. Got blown away by the exciting write up regarding your meteor hunting trips overseas. Impressive work! You must have spend a lot of your time researching into this very unique branch of astrophotography. Perhaps one day I might try to capture some meteor shower on film with your guidance hehe..
Noticed that you do not use RA tracking for your imaging, is it because the camera need to be aimed at a particular portion of the sky which is in the anticipated path of the meteor stream?

regards
ed
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ykchia
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Post by ykchia »

Hi folks:

Captured just today 8/29 ... early am hours

http://www.ykchia.com/more_meteors.htm

I was testing the 50mm lens first time - See for yourself a very fast and slow meteor.



rgds
ykchia
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ykchia
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Post by ykchia »

Hi Ed:

Tracking is not possible for me indoors from 12 storey ...Also I have limited choice (direction) - gated by the southern facing window.

Film probably will fog quickly and so far I have only done unattended auto interval shooting dark sky in Korea. .with array of canon t-70s.

In singaore sky - sky fog can be a problem...

I will invite comments on what is the longest duration of exposure in secs before the film is overexposed.for film based/ ccd based digital photography. My guess is 30 seconds at 400 ASA... with say 14mm lens... just a guess. Star trails photographer (singapore sky) out there pls help

The other better option is digital camera.... with a remote for interval shooting for meteors. 30 seconds exposure, 5 seconds break and repeat ..

Most of the meteor data are done with fixed tripod. Most of the meteors softwares written will compensate the rotation of the earth after the reference starting stars are calibrated... Fixed tripod is simpler to set up too... doing this way different areas of the sky get sampled for meteors...


rgds
ykchia
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