Perseid Meteor Timelapse I Revised: Slower HD Video

January 18, 2011 - I've uploaded a reworked and higher resolution1080i HD copy of this video to Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/18974454
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Flickr Explore highest position: #1 on Tuesday, August 25, 2009. This video was also featured on Discover Magazine's blog. Many of the comments speculate that the video is somehow faked. I'm flattered. I wish I had the tools, skill and time to fake a natural event of this magnitude!

Make sure you click on the HD symbol to see the high resolution version, then watch all of the meteors on the left side.

I shot this timelapse sequence at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the White Mountains on the California/Nevada border. The bright star in the left half of the screen that the rest seem to rotate around (that we actually rotate under) is the North Star. The bright object which rises orange on the right side behind the smoke is the moon.

I had a previous version of this uploaded that was too fast, so I slowed the frame rate down so the meteors are more visible, and added video de-flickering, noise reduction and sharpening. Unfortunately there's no option to replace a video, so I simply left that one up for the people who ahd "favorited" it, then added this improved version.

This is the first completed timelapse video sequence from my series of five, shot from four different locations during the Perseid event. I'll upload the others as I complete them, and as always, I'll try to post technique notes on my blog: www.MyPhotoGuides.com. I'll try to keep my workshop schedule updated there as well if you'd ever like to join me to learn night and timelapse photography, as well as traditional landscapes.

For some interesting background, debris from previous passes of the Comet Swift-Tuttle through the earth's orbit causes the annual Perseid Meteor Shower in early August. Such events may be tied to the appearance of life on this planet. More than seventy varieties of amino acids have been found in meteorites, and tests imply that they may withstand impact events:
Hitchhiking Molecules Could Have Survived Fiery Comet Collisions With Earth
There was a talk recently at U.C. Berkeley on how material from space has influenced life on earth:
Astronomy and Evolution: From the Death of the Dinosaurs to the Stardust in your Bones