Look up! Perseid meteor shower happening after dark!

[QuixoticOne]

The best viewing is expected to be after local midnight, especially after the moon sets after 2am.

However some significantly increased number of meteors will be visible as soon as it gets dark at twilight, and it'll just keep getting better!

Let's see some good astrophotos!
Get that focus set on infinity with a high F-stop and high ISO!

http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

[DrPizza]

Thanks for the heads up! I was just thinking to myself that I needed to check on the date for this. It's VERY cool outside here, for August; low humidity = much better viewing, plus I'm in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Imported]

Too much fog here to see anything.

 

[xanis]

Bah there are way too many friggin' trees where I live... I need to scout out a good spot to set up my tripod and D40.

 

[Jawo]

I was thinking about heading out to Shenandoah NP to watch them on Saturday....there are a few mountain tops with awesome views. What exposure length do you use?

 

[QuixoticOne]

Usually between 20-60 seconds with 20-30 being pretty typical if I'm trying to compromise the degree of trailing motion of the stars and giving enough exposure time to bring in the detail of the moderately faint stars / milky way.

Usually I'll use a moderate amount of magnification somewhere in the 40mm to 120mm range depending on the stars I want to have in the background and the need for the field of view being wide enough to be moderately likely to catch some meteors.

Look through the gallery pages and you can get an idea of the results of using different exposure lengths and different zoom focal lengths.
http://spaceweather.com/meteor...lery_12aug08_page2.htm
http://spaceweather.com/meteor...lery_12aug07_page5.htm
http://spaceweather.com/meteor...lery_12aug06_page2.htm

Enjoy the trip to the NP. I imagine you'll still see a higher than normal meteor activity level in the tail of the shower as well as getting some beautiful views of the dark skies.