Shooting Stars: Preparing to Photograph
the Orionids Meteor Shower ☄

[Oh my.] The Orionids Meteor Shower will be peaking on my birthday. So naturally, I have to accept the sky’s invitation. I’d have to find the dark, program my camera, sit back and watch the show, hoping for better luck than when I attempted to catch the Perseids this time (too cloudy) and this time (too much light).

Of course this would mean leaving New York. Looking at this light pollution map I am filled with trip ideas… when Canada starts letting us in again. But with so many Pennsylvania stops piling up on my ever-active “To Go” Google doc, it would be PA for the Shower attempt. I’ll be trying out new place to shoot since Cherry Springs State Park will be under complete cloud cover. Had I not already made an awesome PA itinerary for the days after the night shoot, I might have opted for Maine. Just look at that darkness! But, after checking for Clear Sky Chart nonstop as the big day neared, clouds also make Maine a bust.

Now to prep. I like to post this detail for my own easy reference, yes, but also for others. Starting with some background on the Orionids. All the “meteor” showers we see are just the result of Earth passing through an area of comet debris, a cosmic mess made by a principle comet. In the Orionids case, the Comet Halley–which made quite the buzz when I was a little kid in 1986–caused the mess. (Halley’s Comet, as we called it then, really did cause a stir that I can recall vividly. I remember looking for it with my family on the driveway of our house. I remember talking about it at school. I never saw it but remember the feeling of collective fascination.) Named for its radiant point, Orion, the Orionids are one of the major annual showers of meteors, pieces of that debris that enter the Earth’s atmosphere as we shuffle through. These meteors move fast across the sky at 147,000 miles per hour, burning up beautifully and booking up camping sites at dark sky parks. Not to be confused with airplanes or satellites.

One thing I won’t have to contend with is a big fat moon blowing out the sky. The moon sets early (9:24pm), soon after True Night begins. But clouds and possible rain are a likely risk.

This leaves me with just some simple tasks upon arrival, which will unfortunately be after sunset. Step up tripod, roll out sleeping bag and start my delay shooting program… which I will program in advance and make sure I have some spare batteries for the remote.

This is how I set the timer feature on the The Pixel TW-283/DC2 LCD Wireless Shutter Release Timer Remote Control:

Delay: 5 (seconds, time from start of “play” button to start of sequence)
Long: 25 (seconds, exposure time)
Interval: 1 (seconds, time between each shot)
N1: 60 (times sequence will repeat)
Interval between Repeat: 1 (second, time between repeat of sequence)
Repeat sequence: 12 (number of times sequence will run)

This will result in 720 pictures, about 6 hours. I’ll need an empty memory card and fresh or freshly charged batteries.

Other considerations:

Temperature:

With a low in the 30’s in the evening, I’ll be bringing a heating pad and plugging it into the power sources on the astronomy field. For my camera, I will put a hand warmer on the lens. This will help to prevent moisture on the lens which can distort the image.

Red Light:

So a mean lady yelled at me at Goblin Valley for my use of white light. Then the folks at IDA didn’t share any of my pictures on their Instagram after they saw my flagrant light painting in Dark Sky-certified parks and I received an email from them about my naughtiness. I was mortified in both cases, feeling like a big jerk. So I am going to do better to keep the sky free of white light and keep my light painting fun to places without restrictions or dark sky designations. BUT, as I have reported in my exploration of 15 Dark Sky parks so far, some of the parks themselves have white light all over the place! Not to mention lots of cars traveling through constantly. Though I can pass on that information, I have little control over it. There are things I can control. I need a better red light flashlight and my own stash of red cellophane to cover all white light sources before arrival: my phone/ipad, the dashboard light, trunk light as that’s where my equipment always is.

And there are non-white light ways to illuminate a foreground that I suppose I should have figured out. Inspired by this astrophotography article from Nikon, I will shoot foreground shots by exposing them for a full 5 minutes (expert recommended ISO 2000, f/2.8, 4000°K with long exposure noise reduction turned on). Then I can practice blending them during post production. That will make me fell like less of a jerk.

Let’s listen to Orion now. 🎸