Shooting Star

[matt34]

Hi All,

My first post, I've been trying my hand at nightscapes on and off for a couple of years now. (Mainly when on holidays away from the big smoke)

I've only stumbled on this forum recently and definitely will be posting here more often. Here are some of my past work http://www.flickr.com/photos/22165837@N04/

While out a couple weekends ago (6/4 at about midnight) near Ballarat I was checking out a spot and managed to capture the biggest shooting star I've ever seen. This was a 25 second exposure and I was looking the other way at the increasing cloud coming in but caught the end of the shooting star out of the corner of my eye on the scan back, It was very bright like lightning or a camera flash. The exposure went for another 10 seconds but couldnt wait to see what was produced. To me it looks like it passes through the lower clouds.

Did anyone else see anything similar to this?

Settings are Canon 60D, 24mm f2.0, ISO1600 25 seconds, please excuse the quality of the image it was crudely resized using Office Picture Manager will ensure that future files fit under the 200kb limit

Cheers Matt

[Larryp]

Great shot, Matt!

[Rod771]

:eyepop: Wow! that was bright.

Well done Matt :thumbsup:

[matt34]

Thanks Rod & larry

I've uploaded a better quality larger version to my flicker site in case anyone wants to check it out in more detail

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22165837@N04/8656571439

[frenchbluehour]

beautiful shot.... looks great :)

[iceman]

Nicely done Matt, welcome to IceInSpace! Look forward to more of your nightscapes.

[ourkind]

That's excellent!! Great shot!! Welcome aboard :thumbsup:

[matt34]

Thanks Nicole, Mike and Carlos

Will be definately posting future shots up here for advice etc. Might even get to the back catalogue of shots to edit as it gets cooler.

Just wondering what people post processing is like, especially with regards to Noise Reduction. I've been meaning to do experiements with the Canon DPP software vs lightroom. I dont currently have photoshop so havent tried the various photo plugins.

[gregbradley]

Nice shot Matt. That must've been quite a bright shooting star.

Greg.

[Draco]

:welcome: and great photo

[ChrisM]

Matt, that would have been a pleasing result even without the bonus shooting star. Well done!

Re processing, I have had some success with LR4 for quite basic adjustments, but have just started using PixInsight, which is a dedicated AP processing program. I am a raw beginner with it, but it certainly can reduce noise very well, and is much cheaper than the latest version of Photoshop.
Chris

[mithrandir]

Matt, if you'd said that was taken at around 20:40 (AEDT) I would suggest it could be an Iridium flare. Iridium 82 had a mag -7.9 flare then that started low in the south and continued a long way to the east-north-east.

[matt34]

Thanks Chris, I do basic editing in LR4 too atm its pretty good at NR. Been meaning to experiment and see if using the native DPP for some initial NR would improve the shots. Will look into PixInsight, I hear its got a big learning curve




Thanks for the information Andrew, Just checked the file it was taken on the 6/4 @ 12:05:48 AEDT. From the little I saw of it, it seems to travel frin left to right on in the shot (so kind of east->south)

[multiweb]

Nice catch and beautiful colours. :thumbsup:

[Ross G]

Great capture Matt.

A beautiful photo.

Ross.

[astronobob]

Welcome & Nice going with the capture Matt, Bonus with the Shooting star or Iridium flare, A great addition to the composition :thumbsup:
Was fab to look through your flicker collection also, Thanx for posting and hope you enjoy the site :thumbsup: