Cosmic Challenge

[Stephen Puckett <spuckett@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Early morning commuters here in Portland OR reported seeing some 
fireballs so there may really be the chance of seeing something 
interesting tonight (or very early tomorrow morning).  I saw these 
tips posted recently on Panorama-l.  I will get myself up somewhat 
early (groan) to watch but do not plan to drive out into the 
country (about 30 minutes) to try to take pix (imagine Dilbert 
trying to explain to his pointy-haired boss why he was late) - and 
I'm certainly not set up for a wide-base stereo shot!  If you get 
some shots, let us all know how your pix came out.
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...The shower will originate out of Leo about 45 degrees above the 
horizon... Apparently some of the potential fireballs from this may 
have magnitudes of -6 to -9 in magnitude.  -4 is as bright as Venus 
ever gets and -12 is the brightness of the full moon. The last 
Leonid shower (33 years ago) had these magnitudes.
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I shot the Hale-Bopp comet using a FUJI 617 mounted on a tracking 
device and got great results.  Shot 400 extachrome for 10 minute 
exposures and pushed the film one stop.  Also shot Kodak 1000 
negative for ten minute exposures.  Produced some great prints of 
sky full of stars with a little bit of nebula showing in print.
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Base fog or your local sky limit is close to unpredictable.  You 
could use somebody else exposure time as starting point. Most 
likely you have to find out for yourself. and from the different 
format you ask for, it is almost impossible to supply for all the 
base fog.  Usually Astrophotographer talk about base fog or sky 
limit with two number first will be the length of the exposure 
before the base fog started to show on the negative/film. Second 
will be the limiting magnitude or the dimmest star you could see 
with naked eye. this two together with local sky condition (hazy, 
steady ... turbulence ... , etc.) then base fog number will be 
really meaningful. 

But on photo of meteor you basically point your camera toward a sky 
or wide angle camera toward a scene opening the shutter hoping that 
the meteor will streak by.  My last attempt was mounting my camera 
on my Byers camtrak. pointing it f 1.7 btw) star constellation.  
Open the shutter at f 2.8 for at least 5-10 minutes (ASA Fuji Sense 
100) .  They comes out pretty good.  My comet Hyakutake and Hale 
Bopp are done the same.
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I would suggest too that the first photo you take should be a 
normal scene in daylight. This allows the lab to know the settings 
of your film.  Otherwise they might get the frame spacing messed up.
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We may have live, streaming video up on the net at: 
http://www.guam.net.  Look at about 9pm West coast time on tuesday.
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