RE: [APML] The Kolb Fireball?

[Jon Kolb <jkolb@mindport.com>]

Chris,

> I've posted three new images from the Leonids outing a few weeks ago.
> I'm wondering if the fireball I caught in the one image is 
> the same one Jon
> caught in Auriga?...Although mine is more into Perseus.  If 
> this is the same
> monster, the different lat and long of my site would cause 
> the slight shift
> I would think?

Nice shot, Chris!  The clouds really add an interesting feel to the image.
It could be the same one I shot, although the smoke train looks a little
different.  I guess the perspective on that would be different from your
site as well.  Let's see, we were maybe 1500 miles apart, the meteor I shot
in Auriga was nearly overhead and what, 50 miles up (anyone know what
altitude these things tend to burn up at on average?), so yeah, you should
have a noticeably different perspective than I did.  What time was it when
you caught this one?  

There were so many big fireballs that night, just about everyone on the list
could have shot a different one.  I still can't get over those big ones
lighting up the mountains and trees around me - like fireworks without the
sound.  Amazing.  

> Also, I was pleasantly surprised to find I caught a six pack 
> of Leonids in
> the wide field Leo/radiant star trail image.  Also, the Fuji 
> Press 800 did a
> pretty good job...except look at M42 in the wide field image...no red
> recorded....we already knew that though...right Jon....
> URL's below:

More nice shots - the clouds add a really cool effect!  It looks like you
had to do some surgery on the 20mm f/2.8 shots.  I was shooting the 20mm
f/2.8 AF-D Nikkor, and there are pteradons, not seagulls, in the corners.
It makes me wonder if there's much point to using such wide lenses on
tracked shots for meteors next time.  When they're wide open, the usable
image area is so small, it might be just as well to shoot a faster 50mm lens
stopped down to f/2.8.  Of course, there probably won't be a next time quite
like last time.

The 800 Press did indeed do the job on the meteors, and so did the NHG-II
120 format.  It's been interesting to look at the way different films
recorded the meteor colors.  We can definitely end all discussion on whether
the Fuji Superia 800, Press version or not, can record emission nebulae - it
can't, and least not the current emulsions.  BTW, I like to catch a six-pack
once in awhile myself.

Sincerely,
Jon Kolb
Adventures in Astrophotography
http://home.datawest.net/jkolb/
jkolb@mindport.com
  

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