After the MPP picnic (which went so much better this year than it did last for us!) and dinner with friends, followed by our fourth viewing of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Marc and I headed up the Blue Ridge parkway (past Black Mountain) to an overlook where we joined a half-dozen or so other hopefuls to watch for the Perseids meteor shower*. We each saw several spectacular meteors, and quite a few less spectacular ones. I took a pile of photos which will mostly serve to help me understand what I need to do differently next time (hint: if the tripod is $14, it’s probably not the tripod you’re looking for).
My astrophotography wishlist now includes:
- A Manfrotto tripod and ballhead (long term – oh, how painful this buy will be!)
- A tripod for now
- Creative Night Digital Photography, or similar book found used at McKay’s
- A battery grip (generic)
- Canon Wide Angle EF 35mm f/2.0 Autofocus Lens
* This is the first astronomical event I’ve chased down since my daddy died. I was relieved when the Venus transit came and went, too cloudy to even consider. When I read about this meteor shower I decided to make it something I was “forced” to do by posting it here; and so off we went, more tired than not, driving further than I’d planned (“You know we’ll have to reverse whatever distance you go on the parkway, right dear?”), to give it a good shot. I’m glad we did.