BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy August - Here come the Perseids!

For four consecutive nights I traveled throughout the Jura and Swiss Alp regions to record [the] nice peak of Perseid meteors with about 40 meteors an hour. This year the conditions were exceptionally good due to the new moon corresponding with the Perseids peak, but also clear nights.

I traveled to several locations. First I drove to 'my backyard' the Jura mountains to get an absolute gorgeous water reflection at the many forested lakes. On the third night for the peak of the Perseids I traveled 2,5 hours away from home to the fantastically beautiful Emosson lake and dam in the Swiss Valais. A gorgeous view of the milky way core passing behind Europe's highest mountains Mont Blanc (4807m) also offered the best 'shower' effect with many bright greenish Perseid fireballs raining down. On the fourth night I travelled almost 4 hours away from home even further east and deeper into Alpine Switzerland. I stationed myself at Grimsel pass, a enowned site for dark skies and actually some of western Europe's darkest ones! I shot some very nice shots in the glaciers and mountains around, with the best reflection shot I have gotten so far and some very nice mist (0:53).

In this short many other things can be seen. The pine green meteors all directed in one direction are Perseids but you can sometimes peek at others that shoot in other directions and burning blue or yellow indicating other metals being combusted. They might come from Alpha Cygnids, Kappa Cygnids, Alpha Capricornids or even North Iota Aquarids. Many other deep-sky objects can be seen: the Andromeda galaxy, Heart and Soul nebulae, North American and Pelican nebulae, close-up shots at the Lagoon and triffid nebulae, the Big Dipper, the Pleiades and California nebula, the Hyades, and if you look closely you can even see the Triangulum galaxy!