Lyrid Meteor Shower Report

Looking Northeast

This morning, we traveled to the Stone Barn in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, part of the Allens Pond Audubon Sanctuary to view, and hopefully photographed the Lyrid meteor shower.  We viewed from after moon-set around 3:30 AM until the sky got too light, prior to sunrise at around 5:15 AM.  We did view of approximately 10 nice meteors.  However, they occurred in the portion of the sky that my camera was not focused on or the camera was not taking a picture at that time.  The the temperature was in the 30s and there were passing clouds, but the clouds did not spoil the show. 

14 mm lens capture D7100

24 mm lens capture D800

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time lapse from moon set to nautical dawn

The first weekend of May there is another meteor shower, Eta Aquarid meteor shower, and the best viewing again will be from around 3:00 AM until Dawn's early light.  So, early Saturday and Sunday morning, May 4th and 5th, I will be at the Stone Barn, observing and photographing the sky and invite you all to join me.


In the past, I have been utilizing my Nikon D3s, and my Nikon D7000 for my sky photography and have found that my standard settings that I have used have been more than adequate.  However, my last two nights sky photography episodes I have utilized my Nikon D800 and my Nikon D7100 and have found that I could lower my ISO down to between 640-1000 rather than my usual 1250 to 3200 and still get excellent pictures.  If you are in possession of one of the newer cameras with higher pixel count and you are doing's night sky photography run some tests to find out what ISO works best for you.