Perseid Watching

Well, I had some luck in attempting to watch the Perseid meteor shower last night. There was some cloud (see pictures) but fortunately it was interspersed with clear spells. There trouble is that, as you can see from the pictures, light pollution here in the Randstad is pretty awful, so it’s difficult to see any but the brightest stars. I had great difficulty in seeing the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye.

 

I was attempting to photograph meteors, but despite taking over 100 shots, for every single one, the camera was pointing in the wrong place.

 

There were metors every few minutes – one was quite spectacular, streaking across a quarter of the sky, and leaving a trail that was visible for a few seconds. There were also a few non-Perseid meteors, as well as the usual collection of planes and satellites. Mars, rising in the East, was also very prominent.

 

So, all in all, not bad; but I would have liked to have captured a Perseid on film.