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Favorite Perseid meteor shower photos

Miska Saarikko caught this daylight meteor Monday morning, August 13, 2018, and wrote: “Got a big one at 04:05 CET. Settings were a bit off in the camera, but still fully visible during sunrise. Taken South of Stockholm, Sweden, from my window.”
Nicholas Holshouser wrote: “The Jerry Lee Lewis Memorial ‘Great Ball of Fire’ Perseid meteor. Looking west towards the Great Smoky Mountains from an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Taken at 4:38 a.m. on August 13, 2018. The bright train was visible for over a minute and it formed a high vapor cloud and was visible above me for more than 20 minutes as it went overhead.”
Here’s another one from the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. Becky Gillum wrote: “So, I’ve spent the last two nights chasing the Perseids … I’m so happy I caught 3 meteors on Saturday night/Sunday morning because Sunday night/Monday morning was a bust with the cloud cover. The Perseids over Price Lake, Julian Price Park, MP 296.7. This is a composite. The meteor on the left is as shot, the 2 meteors on the right were blended in from other shots later that night.”

Findley State Park Milky Way during the Perseid Meteor Shower – 4K from Ionut Ana on Vimeo.

Jörgen Tannerstedt of Tannerstedt Photography caught this meteor traveling the length of the Milky Way. The bright object on the left is Mars, and the bright one on the right is Jupiter. He wrote: “My first image from my trip to Tenerife … This is one of the longest and most impressive meteors that I captured this night.” Sony a7rII mod, Samyang 35mm@f2.2, ISO 3200, 8s. Panorama.
John Boydston caught this meteor over Sun Valley Resort, in Idaho, on August 13, 2018.

Translation for the video below: Perseids 2018, hunting for shooting stars
Time-lapse video of 2 hours of images taken on August 12, 2018 between h. 20:45 and 22:50 in Universal Time from the Sienese countryside (Tuscany, Italy).
Camera Canon 700D, Samyang fisheye lens 8mm, ISO 3200/6400, exptime 10/20s.
(Music: Lee Rosevere, “How I used to see the stars” – FreeMusicArchive.org)

Geno Ketchum wrote: “Fire tower in Newton County, Arkansas – August 11, 2018 – with meteors from the Perseid meteor shower.”
Waiting for the Perseids. Timothy Collins wrote: “While waiting for some Perseids to go overhead … The wife shining a light across the night mist on the lake … Backdrop Milky Way. Nikon D7100 Rokinon 14 mm. August 10, 2018. In Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Dylan Martin wrote: “Space rocks! Perseid meteor shower did not disappoint. I drove up to my favorite camping spot on Mt. Laguna, California, to watch the show late last night and had the meadow all to myself. I saw 30-40 meteors an hour, including a dozen fireballs. In this image, you can see a meteor streaking past Mars while the Milky Way was setting. This is a single exposure of 20 seconds.” In this photo, by the way, the meteor is streaking past bright Mars.

Martin Marthadinata wrote from Malang, East Java, Indonesia, on August 12, 2018: “Hi EarthSky, I have captured the beautiful Perseid meteor shower over Mount Arjuno-Welirang. This is my first time I shoot fireball with great condition clear sky.” Nikon D5000 18mm ISO 3200 f3,5 25″ Single exposure. Congratulations, Martin! Beautiful shot …
Abhijit Patil caught this green Perseid against a green aurora over Maine, on the morning of August 12, 2018. He wrote: “Living in New England, finding dark skies has been a challenge. We drove 350 miles to northern Maine, near Baxter State Park. Little did I know that the camera would not only pick up Perseids, but also I could, for the first time ever in my life, witness and capture the aurora borealis! The auroras and the Perseids, a super natural phenomenon, which we captured not only in camera but in our memories.” Nikon D750 Lens – Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 wide angle lens. Tripod – Vanguard Alta Pro. Thank you, Abhijit! By the way … do you all recognize the star pattern just above the rim of the horizon?
Perseid meteor and Milky Way over Stonehenge in the United Kingdom. Mars is the bright “star” on the left, and Jupiter is the bright one on the right. Photo by Paul Howell.
A Perseid and a photographer. Isola d’Elba, Italy. August 13, 2018. By Stefano De Rosa.
Veteran meteor observer Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, wrote: “Tucson is in monsoon season with clouds and thunderstorms. Overcast cleared about 2 a.m., leaving a light haze and fair transparency of the sky. Between 2 a.m. and 4:20 a.m., 13 Perseids seen, none very bright. Of the 5 photographed, this is the best one zooming above M45 [the dipper-shaped Pleiades, or Seven Sisters] and Taurus. The green and magenta color of the Perseids is apparent.” Nikon D500 15.0 mm f/2.4.
The Perseid meteor shower is relatively fleeting. Meanwhile, the planet Mars has been exceptionally bright since early July, and will stay bright through early September. Here are the Milky Way, Mt. Rainier, Mars and a Perseid meteor from our friend Night Sky Chaser on Facebook.
Mars (left), meteors and the Milky Way from Joe Randall at Twin Lakes, Colorado, August 12, 2018.
Mars, meteor, Milky Way over Bournemouth, U.K., by Joseph Anthony.
Mars, Milky Way and Perseid meteor, August 13, 2018, Sun Valley, Idaho, by Nils Ribi.
Heidi Gabbert wrote: “I kind of didn’t want to go out at night, but the Perseids meteor forces were just pulling at my astrophotography strings. So out I went for 3 hours of gamble shooting in the middle of the night. Obviously, I didn’t choose the most beautiful of venues with light pollution and the lovely leading power lines, but I’m happy to have come back with a single shot, celebrating this year’s annual event.” Sony a7r iii Sony 16-35mm GM ISO-800 20″ f/2.8 16mm. Single shot.
Perseid meteor, planet Mars, Milky Way from April Singer in New Mexico.
Mars, Perseid meteor and MIlky Way by Michael Cozad at Bear River Reservoir in Amador County, California, August 11, 2018.
A composite image showing 3 Perseid meteor fireballs (the 3rd one is near the horizon, left side of photo) by Stephanie Longo. She wrote: “The meteors were flying at Antero Reservoir near Denver, Colorado, early this morning. I saw many fireballs and even captured 3 of them!”
No idea how Matthew Chin managed to capture this faint-looking meteor (doubtless really a very bright meteor) over Hong Kong on August 13, 2018. If you know your constellations, you can see it’s coming directly from Perseus!
Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, wrote on August 11: “Grumble! Stayed up moving my camera around looking for gaps in clouds … got one Perseid. It is the monsoon season here, making Perseid photography difficult.” Nikon D850 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0.
James Younger caught this Perseid meteor Friday night from near Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Perseid meteor – August 12, 2018 – from Russ Adams in Pike, Colorado.

Bottom line: Photographs of 2018 Perseid meteors by EarthSky friends.

Posted 
August 14, 2018
 in 
Astronomy Essentials

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