I hadn't planned on getting up at 1:00 am Saturday May 31st, I had been out the night before and got some images of the stars and our galaxy and thought I'd take it easy and actually sleep a whole night, but I awoke at 1:00 am and wasn't tired, so I thought why not, maybe an aurora or something cool, so off I went with my camera to explore the cosmos once again.
So I'm pulling up to my site and a huge meteor appeared while I was getting out of the car, shoot me now, missed it, set up the camera and the meteors started, just kept coming, better then any major shower I'd ever seen, man I lucked out.
Not only was there lots of meteors but because the Moon didn't rise for a couple hours the Milky Way wasn't washed out, and , Jupiter and an aurora were out as well making for a great photo op.
Notice in the image above the very large meteor in the bottom right of the frame, I was looking away as my camera was taking it's 60 second exposure and I still noticed a flash out of the corner of my eye. Since there is no major shower at that time I have named it the Bobaids Meteor Shower, after moi. Like I said I was out the night before and notta, I went out the next night and notta, and the shower only lasted a couple hours that night, so go figure, must have gone through some kind of debris field, you better believe I'll be out next year to check it out again, may have stumbled on to something.
The picture above I like to call 4 toes, it is an imge of the track left behind by the Phoenix's arm scooper. Scientists are practicing using the scooper especially since they temporairily lost one dump which they found through images taken by the onboard camera, the last thing they want to do is drop the scoop of soil on the lander or it's solar panels, that would surely suck. Consider what they are up against, because they are milions of miles away they are issuing the instructions or commands in the morning and getting back the results to see how it went in the evening, also some of the Martian soil for whatever reason got stuck in the scooper, again if they think the scoop is empty, may lead to an accidental dropping of the stuck soil where they don't want it. So for today, they think they have spotted something white in one of the samples, could be ice could be salt, won't know for sure until they get it tested.
I'll leave you now with an animated May Full Moonrise.
38 comments:
Wow ... fantastic images. You really did luck out!
Totally, totally, totally awesome work there Professor... wow!!!! I love this site, I am so into astronomy and such... excellent!!!! :))))
Beautiful, Bob!
Holy Cow nice catch Bob and how did you think of a great name like that for the shower lol!
You KNOW why you couldn't sleep that night don't you? The meteors were calling your name! I've seen maybe three meteors (or space debris) that I would consider impressive. Once when I was in High School, out one night with a bunch of other teens. We were on a back road by our school football field and a bright streak went across the sky overhead nearly from one horizon to the other. The last one I saw made the local news, it was space junk and I actually thought it was an airplane burning and crashing. I don't remember what color it was, but it wasn't white.
I've got an award for you over at my blog, Bob. Come pick it up. : )
That meteor shower sounds thrilling! Glad you woke up.
Thanks drowsey, I did didn't I.\m/
Totally thankyou lynda,cool you're into astronomy too!\m/\m/
Hey marvin the martian, thanks.\m/
:D :-D
Lol, thanks Roger, always wanted a meteor shower named after me, well now I do,lol.\m/:D :-D
Moonshadow, thanks for sharing, those sightings are too cool, and thanks very much for the award, you are too kind, hope you get more time to use that awesome 40D of yours.:D :-D
Thanks Ruth, was on the edge of not going out, would have been a big mistake.:D :-D
Beautiful night shots Bob! Your exposures for these night shots are truly excellent. Great capture of the meteor. Who knows, maybe you'll make it into the Catalog with your own named meteor. Fame and fortune may not be too far away my friend.
Also, it seems to me issuing command to the Phoenix is very similar to posting requests to our kids. You ask them something in the morning and maybe, just maybe they'll come back with a response to your question in the evening.
~JD
Hi Bob, aka "Bob the night owl". You seem to have a habit of attracting things out of thin air. They just see you coming! When do you sleep?
The last time I saw a huge meteor shower, I had just come across a guy that had been shot! He wasn't bad and as we were talking we both looked up into the sky at the same time and saw the blessed things coming. Took his mind of his pain and it certainly changed the topic of our earthly conversation.
As for the Phoenix, if those Martians ever play that DVD we are in for big trouble.
Thank You and Take Care,
Peter
Bob:
An absolutely stupendous shot of the Milky Way. The best amateur shot I've ever seen.
The four-toed Martian monster. What a find. But, bring me the water! I want water.
Great post.
happy trails.
My 7yr old granddaughter Sydney and I really enjoyed the pictures of the meteor shower! Thanks... that was awesome.
Thanks JD I hear you about the kid commands, I'm past that stage now,lol. it's more the other way round now,lol\m/
Hey Peter what an inspirational story, you have seen a lot, glad the meteors had the effect they did, they are really quite .
\m/\m/
Thanks swubird, hopefully in the next few days they will find the water, can hardly wait.\m/
Thanks Shirley, too bad you two couldn't have been there.\m/
Wow, very nice Bob. I like the effect with this super wide angle lens. It's absolutely the right lens to show case the universe. I'm impressed!
Bob, I don't know how you can close your eyes at night, knowing what's happening in the dark and lighted heavens.
>>>shoot me now, missed it
Don't you hate that!
Beautiful images and I have learned there is a Bobaids Meteor Shower. You are expanding my vocabulary. :D
I heard that the Milky Way has two arms instead of four. Were there four before?
Jeff is STILL trying to figure out why the space station has only ONE bathroom. He says that doesn't make sense, especially since bathrooms are notorious for malfunctioning.
Hugs, JJ
Thanks Susanne, I love that fisheye lens, my wife says I sould use a different one every once in a while,lol.\m/\m/
Lol, JJ I hate when that happens.
Good catch about the 2 or 4 arm Galaxy. It is hard to tell exactly what our galaxy looks like as we look at it from the edge like my pic, plus there is dust in the way as well, ya know they aren't 100% sure how many arms, probably be changed again as our viewing equipment gets better, there are areas in our Milky way not plotted that scientists have labled, "Here there be Dragons" lol, hey it's still a new frontier. \m/\m/
Hi Bob,
With all of the time you've spent cataloging the night sky and the heavens you deserve to have at least a star or a celestial event named after you. There's not much more spectacular than a meteor shower. Splending work, my friend.
-Mike.
Lol, I think so too Mike, probably the best meteor shower, although short, I've seen in years.
Great shots bob.
Shall I say congratultaions on your find of the Bobaid meteor shower.
I must also admire your dedication getting up at all hours to take your pics.
Wow you did luck out. These are great shots. You see all the good things. :(
Beautiful animated moonrise!
Thanks max-e, almost didn't go, man I'm so happy I changed my mind.\m/
Hey Rose thanks very much.:D :-D
Thanks Kathy, I love it too, really happy how it turned out.\m\m/
Hi Bob, I like the name you assigned to the meteor shower. Are you sure that Martians don't have feet with 4 toes? :P
Lol priyank, I was thinking the same thing.\m/\m/
These are awesome images of the stars. The road and the tree and the mailbox aren't bad either. really cool stuff.
Thanks oswegan!\m/\m/
Not to rain on your meteor shower parade, but isn't a characteristic of a meteor shower that they are all falling the same direction from the same vector? I wonder if you happened upon some orbital debris reentering?
The pictures, whatever was falling from the sky, are fabulous! I'd love them even without the meteors and, with them, WOW!
Also, did you know that meteor showers are tiny tiny, but they show up so brilliantly because they go so fast? Some as fast as 70 km/s.
Awesome picks....Thanks a bunch for sharing them....
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