Tag Archives: International Space Station photography

Photography

Perseid Meteor Shower : 2013

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I’m still reeling over the high point of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower which I witnessed over Leeds in the early hours of Tuesday in the grounds of Temple Newsam. It was such a spectacular event to just sit back and cast your eyes to the heavens and watch this celestial “natural firework display” unfold as our Earth’s orbit takes us through a stream of dusty comet fragments left behind when comet Swift-Tuttle passed close to Earth in 1992.

Amazingly my image below was also featured on the local BBC News channel  …Yeah!! 🙂

Perseid Meteor Shower 2013 over Yorkshire

The meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation of Perseus, hence the name Perseid.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2013 over Leeds

I’ve got to say, to see these meteors burn up as they strike the atmosphere, creating dazzling streaks of light across the night sky was a magical solo experience…apart from the odd fox taking an interest in me and the trusty camera.

International Space Station over Temple Newsam

While I was in the grounds of Temple Newsam I also managed to capture the International Space Station as it graced the night sky over Leeds.

Astronomy, NASA, Photography

Star Trails from Space

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ISS Star Trails photography by Don Pettit 2012 Click to Enlarge to see its real beauty

This has to be the most awesome time-lapse photo ever taken in my opinion, mainly because it was taken from the International Space Station by Flight Engineer, Don Pettit as it orbited the Earth…here’s what he had to say on the subject:

“My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”

More of these stunning images are available on the official NASA Flicker page.