Mark your calendars for a spectacular celestial fireworks display in the coming days and over the weekend. The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Saturday and Sunday, August 12th and 13th, with more than 100 meteors per hour expected. The Perseids 2023 will likely bring us a great display as they coincide with the waning last Quarter of the Moon during the nights around the peak.
No matter where you live on Earth, two great meteor showers happen yearly. The Perseid meteor shower from late July to late August, and December’s Geminids. They both bring a spectacular celestial show, producing hundreds of meteors in the nights around the peak.
Both of these meteor showers are known as the most reliable night sky events every year, with a zenithal hourly rate (ZHR)* of more than 100 meteors quite warranted.
These days, the Perseid meteor shower is already ramping up, with an increasing number of meteors every night. The peak intensity will happen from August 11th to 14th this year.
And we are finally lucky with the Moon again, as the peak nights come right when less than 10% of the Moon is visible, so it will not disturb the observations much. The Moon will rise in the pre-dawn hours, so until then, the night will be just a dark sky.
We can see how the weather will be around the peak nights on the attached gif animation below. The general weather patterns across the United States and Europe give us an idea of what stable (and potentially clearer) weather will happen for the Perseids in 2023.
*ZHR – Zenithal Hourly Rate of any meteor shower tells us the number of meteors a single observer would see in an hour of peak activity if it was at the zenith. This is assumed that the conditions are excellent (stars are visible up to magnitude 6.5). The rate that can effectively be seen is nearly always lower and decreases the closer the radiant is to the horizon.
Now, let us give you all the answers you might be questioning about the Perseid meteor shower and learn how we can photograph meteors.
WHAT IS THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER
The Perseid meteors are small dust particles, crumbs of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, burning up as they hit our atmosphere at about 59 km/s. They are known as one of the most regular and reliable meteor showers, peaking in mid-August of every year. They are so reliable that they used to be known as tears of St. Lawrence for decades.
The Perseids often produce a superb meteor shower from mid-July to late August. They bring some of the best activity of any annual meteor shower during their peak on August 12/13th.
The Perseid meteor shower is rich in bright, colorful meteors, including fireballs. The celestial show goes on high in the atmosphere, well above the regular weather, at altitudes of about 100 km – right at the edge of space.
While they may seem close, Perseids appearing overhead will be about 100 km away, while those close to the horizon will be 500 km away or more.
An average bright Perseid meteor is produced by a dust particle (called a meteoroid) only several millimeters across. The brightest Perseids often leave persistent dust trails slowly twisted and contorted by the upper-level winds.
They can last tens of seconds if you watch them with the naked eye and minutes if you use binoculars.
HOW TO SPOT THE PERSEIDS?
Finding the spot where the Perseids come out in the sky is pretty simple.
All the meteors will look like they come from a point in Perseus’s constellation. If you trace all the Perseid meteors backward, they all seem to come from the constellation Perseus, near the famous Double Cluster. Hence, the meteor shower is named in honor of the constellation Perseus the Hero.
This point in the sky is called the radiant. The higher the radiant is in the sky, the more meteors appear.
PERSEID METEOR SHOWER DURING THE PEAK IN 2023 – NO MOON THIS YEAR
The best opportunities to see the Perseids will indeed happen on the peak night and one night before the peak.
In 2023, the United States and European observers will be lucky with the Moon. After several years, the peak activity around Aug 12 and 13th happens without the bright Moon in the sky. The Moon rises in the final hours of the night, giving us dark observing times throughout most of the night.
However, this means that the following few days will have the Moon during the second half of the night, so observations will not be good until about a week before the peak activity. After around August 10th, the Moon rises after midnight your local time, giving us a better time to observe from the evening until then.
Once we come close to the peak nights, August 11th, 12th, and 13th will have ideal conditions for observing the Perseid meteor shower celestial show. Only a small waning Moon will interact with the meteor shower, which will be smaller every night until this year’s peak. The only thing we need to cross our fingers is that we get a cloudless sky.
For observers at mid-northern latitudes (hence the meteor is best seen from the Northern Hemisphere), the Moon rises in the morning and sets in the evening, giving us several hours to enjoy this spectacular celestial show.
The Perseids’ radiant is visible all night but rises higher during the second half, so more meteors are visible. To observe or photograph the Perseid meteor shower, find a spot with the clearest skies possible, away from the city lights.
If you have an option, get to higher observing locations in the hills or mountains: the sky will be clearer and darker there, and you will be able to see the highest number of meteors from up there.
METEOR PHOTOGRAPHY – HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH A METEOR SHOWER
It is always great to see some spectacular meteors that photographers catch with their cameras—tempting to try it yourself? If you want to photograph the meteors, let us give you some tips.
No matter which meteor shower you observe, it is always fun. And with some luck, you can catch a big, bright meteor – a fireball! Here is how you can get that shot too.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO WE NEED
Basically, we need a camera, lens, tripod, and some luck. But when it comes to meteor photography, more specific equipment is necessary to get the best results out of your photography attempts.
- A digital camera with the option of making long exposures. Any interchangeable lens camera (DSLR or mirrorless) will have this option, including compact cameras, and some phone cameras nowadays can also take long exposures
- A tripod. The stronger, the better. Especially if you plan to photograph in higher elevations where winds could be stronger
- A remote trigger for the camera (or timer) that helps you to photograph continuously and without shaking the camera when pressing the shutter button
- And indeed… a meteor shower. Preferably the highest activity possible, so during the peak nights
HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH – CAMERA SETTINGS
The best time to photograph meteors is during a maximum (known as the shower’s peak) of major events, such as the Perseid meteor shower, Geminids, or Quadrantids. Moderately strong meteor showers, such as the Lyrids, Southern Delta Aquarids, Orionids, Taurids, Leonids, and Ursids, could be quite a show.
Avoid using Auto and preset scene modes when photographing meteors or a night sky. You need to be in control of the camera.
Set the camera mode to long exposure. Several ways about it may vary depending on your camera brand, but these are normally pretty simple. One of the modes is the M – Manual. Some cameras may have B – Bulb mode as well. This mode allows you to use a remote trigger for any exposure length.
The shutter priority mode (Tv or S) is the other useful camera mode. With this mode, you can select the exposure time for your photo. And the camera will do the rest.
All interchangeable lens cameras have these photography modes; you will be fine regardless of the brand – Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, or others.
HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH – CHOOSING THE RIGHT LENS
Virtually any wide-field or standard lens will do its job, and so will any mid-range zooms. Most entry and up-to-prosumer crop sensor (DX or APS-C) cameras have a mid-range kit zoom lens, usually between 16 and 18 mm at the wide end and f/2.8 to f/3.5. These are fine for meteor photography.
The standard 50 mm lens is fine too, and many of them have the aperture pretty wide open, usually f/1.2 to f/1.8. This lens can gather more light to capture fainter meteors than mid-range zooms. Indeed, the downside of these lenses is the small field of view, particularly on crop sensor cameras.
50 mm will not be too bad but do not use longer focal lengths as the field of view becomes too small. In other words, you are photographing a very narrow sky and will miss many meteors.
The best lenses for meteors are the recently released wide-field lenses with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 to f/2.0, available from several brands (Samyang, Rokinon, and, especially, the Sigma Art lens).
Use a high ISO setting to capture meteors; 1600 or higher will be good enough. How far up the ISO scale you want to go depends mostly on your tolerance for noise and, indeed, the camera model. The recent cameras from various brands all have pretty good performance of ISO, as sensors have improved a lot over the years.
So now you can set up the camera with all the optimal settings. Prepare the camera, mount it on the tripod, and ensure it is leveled. Look through the viewfinder and make sure the horizon is perfectly on level.
The next is to focus on the lens. The easiest way to do it is to set it to manual focus and focus it on a distant light source or a bright star. Using the live view (with maximum magnification) makes the focusing job much easier.
Once you have the lens focus set, please keep them in manual focus mode to avoid the camera refocusing. Always switch the Image stabilization (IS) as well. Set the aperture to the lowest possible (fully open) and set the ISO.
You are ready to go. Be aware that you will take hundreds of photos before catching the first good meteor. Patience is the key to meteor photography. As the more persistent you are, the more likely you will be able to catch a bright meteor!
Check the photograph above. It shows what a typical meteor will look like—a streak of light, likely greenish tint. Unlike the weather or communication satellites, a meteor will have a relatively smooth light curve – brightening steadily, brightest in the second half of its trail, with a more steep brightness drop-off at the end.
Irregular brightness flares can punctuate brighter meteors.
SOME ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
These settings above were more or less the basic ones that we can get you into this interesting field of photography. Let’s see more tips on being even more successful and getting the best results.
Don’t get the background (sky) too bright; you want a good contrast between the sky and the meteors. Typically keep an eye on a histogram that has a peak around 1/8 to 1/6 full (left to right), which is considered optimal. This will depend on your lens, the ISO setting, and how dark your sky is. Fast lenses and high ISO settings will get your background bright faster. A bright, light-polluted sky will also get the background bright faster. An f/2.8 lens at ISO3200 under a good rural sky will take about 20-30 seconds.
Very fast and fully open lenses, e.g., the f/1.2 to f/1.8 lens, will produce the best results under dark skies. Brighter, light-polluted skies will saturate the background quickly, and meteors will have less contrast.
Do not use too short exposures. The shorter you go, the more likely you will get a ruined photo by ending the exposure in the middle of a bright meteor. This could be extremely frustrating. With a 10-second exposure, you will probably ruin 5-10% of meteors. So keep it at 15s or more.
Keep your horizon in the photo as many bright meteors appear close to the horizon. This is because you are looking through a larger volume of the atmosphere close to the horizon than overhead. If you use a 50 mm or another longer focal length, fast prime lens, keep your field close to the radiant. Otherwise, meteors will be too long to fit into your field of view.
Turn off your High ISO noise reduction. You can do noise reduction in post-processing.
Turn off your Long exposure noise reduction. In this setting, the camera makes a dark exposure for every photo you take – you will only photograph the sky 50% of the time, missing half the meteors. Few things are as frustrating as missing a superb meteor while your camera is making a dark exposure.
Preferably, take photographs in RAW format or the RAW + JPEG combo. It pays off to have a RAW photo to edit later. Much easier than the JPEG format, no doubt about it.
Keep your white balance on AUTO, as it typically works best. You may want to change to a warmer setting (some photographers prefer 3700 K) under highly light-polluted skies. Or if there is variable cloud cover and the clouds are illuminated by light pollution or your camera has trouble keeping the white balance constant. As you take photographs in RAW format, you can correct the white balance in post-processing later.
Use Live View to point the camera to a bright star or distant lights to focus your lens. Make absolutely sure your focus is dead on. Keep your camera and lens in manual focus mode. Otherwise, it will try to refocus once you start your exposures, and your photos will be out of focus.
Avoid areas with moist air and better find a hilltop or a ridge; avoid depressions and valleys. Once your lens dews up, it is impossible to keep photographing. You can leave a spare lens in your car and use it as a replacement once your first lens dews up. Get the other lens into the car to warm it up. Alternatively, lens warmer bands are available from several suppliers: they run on batteries and keep the lens warm enough not to dew up.
Bring backup batteries. And spare memory cards. All of them. You don’t want to run out of batteries or space for peak activity.
Cameras do not see meteors as well as your eyes. A fairly bright meteor, as bright as the brightest stars, will register on your photo as a faint streak of light. You will need a bright one to produce a beautiful photo. Only if you use fast lenses and high ISO settings will even moderately bright meteors look significant. But do not be discouraged; you will get a great photo with a little luck and perseverance!
HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH PERSEID METEOR SHOWER WITH YOUR PHONE
Although smartphone cameras are far from as strong as traditional ones, they have improved significantly in recent years. The newer smartphone camera models are getting better every year, and with just a few photography tricks and some software add-ons, our smartphone can also bring high-quality images.
Here are a couple of tips on how to photograph meteors or a night sky in general, including the Milky Way, with your smartphone:
- Use a tripod – Using a tripod will ensure that your phone is steady and that there is no movement or shaking. Keep in mind that even the slightest movement can mess with long-exposure images. This means you wouldn’t get clear pictures even if you captured a meteor in the frame.
- Use the fastest aperture lens possible – To get the best night sky shots, a smartphone must gather as much light as possible. The latest smartphones have multiple camera lenses, so we have to choose the one with the broadest aperture, which should make stars and meteors brighter in the photos. If your smartphone offers a night mode, enable that as well.
- Download a long exposure app – Long exposure mode allows your smartphone camera to take multiple shots over a period of time. This is essential for capturing the fleeting nature of meteors since they are sporadic events. Some free mobile apps exist, for example, Easy Long Exposure Camera (iPhone) and Long Exposure Camera 2 (Android). Additionally, there are high-quality paid apps, e.g., Slow Shutter Cam (iPhone) or Night Camera (Android).
- Turn off HDR – The abbreviation HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. When you turn on this setting, the camera can combine multiple shots to include more light than is visible to the lens in one shot. This is normally good for shooting the sky but slows your camera’s capture speed. This increases the risk that you will miss meteors in the short time they are visible in the sky. So it is advised to turn this option off.
- Don’t use zoom – If you’re using digital zoom, zooming will lower the quality of the image as even cameras with optical zoom lenses tend to have much less ability to gather light thanks to a more closed aperture. So, the standard focal length available with your smartphone’s fastest aperture lens is best.
WHAT TO EXPECT
As you are now really to get to the field, what can you expect? First, be ready to take many photos before a good catch of a meteor appears. Be prepared to spend at least an hour or two under the starry sky to catch a good one, even in the strongest of meteor showers, like the summer’s Perseid meteor shower or the Geminids in winter.
Moderate meteor showers like the Lyrids or the Orionids take even more time as their hourly rate is lower than the most famous meteor showers. But patience does pay off. The more time you spend photographing meteors, the better the chances you will finally catch a good one, even a fireball.
Photographing a Perseid meteor shower can often bring hours and hours of taking hundreds or even thousands of photos. But, when things go right… whoa! Imagine you catch an exploding fireball. You will forget all the waiting until then!
CONCLUSION – PERSEID METEOR SHOWER 2023: A SPECTACULAR DISPLAY
What can we say at the end? The Perseid meteor shower is one of those celestial events you don’t want to miss. Seriously!
The summer months are often disturbed by daytime thunderstorm activity; the remaining clouds often extend into the nighttime hours. But weather patterns are changing, so we might get lucky and see stable weather with low cloud coverage and thunderstorm activity around the peak.
Perseid meteor shower this year is expected to produce around 100-120 meteors per hour during both nights around the peak this year, on August 12th and 13th. The Perseid’s main peak occurs from August 12th, 22 UTC, to August 13th, 07 UTC.
So this is almost as perfect as it gets for Western Europe, the United States, and Canada.
And one of the greatest things coming up with this year’s Perseids is that they finally coincide with a waning ~ 10% big Moon, so nearly moonless nights are expected for the peak. Therefore, the Perseid meteor shower peak will happen in near-ideal conditions, and we are up to a unique and spectacular celestial show this year. We only need to get clear skies.
*ENJOY* your observation, and thanks to the waning Moon, this could potentially be the greatest Perseid’s celestial display in years.
Feel free to report your observations to our Facebook SWE Report / Discuss group; if you catch some, we will happily share them with our followers!
Like the astronomers and astrophotographers would say – CLEAR SKIES!