How to Photograph the Perseids Meteor Shower | Step by Step Tutorial

[@followthetrawler]

Super!!! Praying for clear skies!

[@PhotoPills]

Yeah!

[@rolsonn]

Hopefully, clear skies

[@PhotoPills]

Clear skies Richard!

[@pete-c]

Brilliant many thanks a very good lesson, just need a clear sky in the UK

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you Pete!

[@drshawnie]

thank you for the review Raphael and for gettin my brain warmed up for Perseids!

[@PhotoPills]

Let's hope to have clear skies :)

[@jcaff6963]

Thanks, Rafael. We're planning a Perseids shoot with the Pacific Photographic Society and the Julian Dark Sky Network in Julian, CA. This will help us a lot. John

[@PhotoPills]

So cool! Thank you John!

[@robvercouteren]

Rafael, thanx again for this wonderfull tutorial, lets hope we have clear skies here \o/ (and there too ;) )

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you Rob!

[@maryellenrosen]

Thank you for this video. It is very helpful and love the Photopills app! Looking forward to taking Milky Way and Perseid Meteor shower photos this coming week. Still trying to figure out best spot for this on my trip & praying for clear skies!!

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you Mary! Scouting is one of my favorite parts :)

[@RahmMenon]

I am going to follow this plan for next week's event. This is so detailed.

[@PhotoPills]

Plan & Pray!

[@DJMcCrady]

Thanks Raphael. I would only add that when computing the exposure time using "Spot Stars", I would take into account the fact that the constellation Perseus is at about 49 degrees declination. This is far enough north that you should be able to increase your exposure time by 3 or 4 seconds without sacrificing your spot stars.

[@PhotoPills]

Nice! Thank you don! (BTW... I miss Namibia!!)

[@astrodad-simonb277]

Great video, I have just come back from Majorca where my son and I shot his first Milky Way photo, we have already booked to go back as we love Majorca (10 years in a row) - next year we plan to take my APO as well. The video helped as we plan to shoot tonight with and without a Star tracker - any advice on the tracker would be helpful! #subscribed now :-) PS: Portopetro get a great view of the MW out to sea !

[@PhotoPills]

Yess, Mallorca is great but we prefer Menorca (he he he). Using a star tracker is great. You can use it the same way as for shooting the Milky Way. Here you have a whole class: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faLSZmuVi7l5ask

[@astrodad-simonb277]

@@PhotoPills Thank you!! I am going to watch this - do yo have tutorial on the Star Tracker Mini (SAM) that I could watch as that is the one i have ?

[@michelebullock9867]

Thank you for this. Where we are going we won’t have cell signal. Will PhotoPills still work?

[@PhotoPills]

Hi Michele! Yes! Use the Meteor Shower Pill. The Info and the AR view in this pill work off-line.

[@coltharwood494]

Great advice, have learned a lot from your videos. Was wondering if you could provide a link for the lens heater. I have been using hand warmers but looking for something better.

[@maryellenrosen]

FYI - I bought one off Amazon a month ago as I was on beach and it was quite humid and my lens fogged up. I am planning to use it next week when trying to take Milky Way and Perseid Meteor Shower photos. This is what I purchased and hope it works. www.amazon.com/Temperature-Regulator-Universal-Telescopic-Heating/dp/B07WJG9B5P/

[@coltharwood494]

@@maryellenrosen Thank you. Will look into it. Have been using hand warmers for the past few nights which seem to work, though the dew point has been well below the ambient temperature.

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you guys! We use the Dew-Not Dew Heater Strip. You'll find it in the official website and on amazon.

[@adventuresofjandk]

Love it

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you!

[@Ferangnl2009]

Rafael is Azimuth the same as declination? In spot stars you can fill in the declimation and in the planner you see the azimuth and elevation.

[@PhotoPills]

Hey! No... the azimuth is the angle measured from north around the horizon to the position of the celestial body. The declination is measured using a different coordinates system: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declination

[@Jesity]

I was gonna use this for tonight’s meteor shower but £11 is way too much 😢

[@IoannisAnyfantakis]

Hi Rafael, I cannot find Meteor Showers option, within my Photopiller version 1.4.1. can you help? this is not the first time your instructions do not match my version. Is there a new version or what?

[@PhotoPills]

Hi Yannis! Go to Google Play, search PhotoPills and install the latest version. The Meteor Showers have been there since a few years ago...

[@IoannisAnyfantakis]

@@PhotoPills Sorry Rafael, there is no new version there for me. Is there anything to do with my mobile version?

[@IoannisAnyfantakis]

@@PhotoPills Hi Rafael, Just found out that I was a Beta Tester, even though I never had any beta version there to test. I have uninstall the Beta tester version and now I have to pay again for the software. Is this normal?

[@alandyer910]

I’m wondering where does PhotoPills get its meteor shower peak times? What source is it using, as the times don’t agree with official sources such as the International Meteor Organization. Plus giving peak times accurate to a minute seems overly precise as the peaks of the annual showers almost always stretch over several hours. Thanks!

[@PhotoPills]

Hi Alan, we use our algorithms that take into account lots of factors like radiant position, moon phase, moon elevation... But when it comes to Meteor Showers, all the calculations are just predictions, not exact science. This is the reason we recommend shooting as much time possible during the Peak night. And why not, the night before and after.

[@alandyer910]

@@PhotoPills Thanks! In fact modelling of the location of meteor streams and predicting the hour or hours of peak activity has become an exact science in recent years. The predictions are given in summaries published here. www.imo.net/resources/calendar/ But most predictions can’t be given to the exact minute which is what PhotoPills is doing now, leading to the false expectation that the predictions are really really exact! For the Perseids this year your times put the peak about 9 to 12 hours before the official predictions. If they differ enough (>12 hours) people might go out on the wrong night and miss the peak. You might want to look at where you’re getting your predictions from, to bring them in line with official sources. Just a suggestion! Cheers! Love the app!

[@PhotoPills]

​@@alandyer910 Hi Alan, our estimate works better than giving the ZHR (Zenithal Hour Rate). Let me explain, the IMO calendar only gives the ZHR, that's the mazimum peak you can have taking into account that the radiant of the meteor shower is at zenith. But that's not the case for almost any location. And they don't take it into account the moon, if the peak happens during day time, etc. So, how do we calculate the value? We know when the maximum peak of the meteor shower happens (so we know the solar longitude at that moment, IMO also gives this value). Knowing that, and knowing the distribution of meteor/h around the peak (there are books that gives these values), you can estimate the meteor/h at any time. It's not something we have came up, but something astronomers use. So, to sum up, we start witht he ZHR given by the IMO calendar. Then, we adjust this value taking into account the Sun, the Moon, the latitude and longitude and the distribution of meteors/h around the peak :) In the Meteor Shower tool, if you tap on Calendar and select a meteor shower, you'll see the theorical peak. The same value that's given by IMO. But you'll also have the estimated peak for your location. For example, the theorical peak can happen at 10am. So, maybe the peak for your location is at 6am in the morning, just before the astronomical twilight. That's the value we give.

[@alandyer910]

@@PhotoPills Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense, though the times PhotoPills gives are then not traditional peak times but estimated local best times, so will vary quite a bit from user to user and their location. So in that case, anyone using PhotoPills to tell others when it is best to shoot would be correct only for people in their area. Good to know.

[@PhotoPills]

@@alandyer910 Yep, that's it. We give the "traditional" peak time in the Calendar view, but we calculate the local peak time, as we calculate the local eclipse time, the local sun/moon rise/set times, etc :) Our goal was to answer the recurrent question: what's the best night to shoot the meteor shower. The answer was always: it depends. It depends if the "traditional" peak happens during night for your location, during daytime, if the moon is under/over the horizon, if the radiant is visible or not visible over the horizon, etc

[@GeorgeENorkus]

Rafael. As always a great video but your voice. It sounds very rough. Have you been overworking again? TAKE A BREAK! We need you for future things.

[@PhotoPills]

I need a break! :P

[@victorfernandezadelantado]

Hola, me pierdo un poco con el proceso explicado en inglés. Si puedes, publícalo en español. Gracias.

[@victorfernandezadelantado]

Oh, acabo de ver que ya hay versión española! Gracias de nuevo.

[@PhotoPills]

Sí... todos los vídeos están también en castellano :)

[@georgekrezinski1786]

If the radiant is in the north and the Milky Way in the south, will it be possible to get meteors showing up in a Milky Way shot to the south???

[@PhotoPills]

Meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. It's a matter of being lucky :)

[@AndyDay]

Better audio, please! 😊🙏🏻

[@PhotoPills]

Thanks for the feedback!