Mooned During Perseids Meteor Shower

Conditions for the viewing of the annual Perseids meteor shower peak during the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 13, 2014 would have been ideal: clear skies, 55 degrees F, little or no wind and no insect or "critter" interference. The only problem was that the moon also occupied the sky and it was three-quarters full. This light glare hid all but the brightest of meteor streaks. But there were some. All three of the images seen above contain the brightest fireball (whose angle seems to defy the radiant direction of the constellation Perseus toward the upper right). This photo location was at the NW corner of Radio Road and Highway 13 northeast of Marion, Iowa and looks north. The top image is a stacked composite of 102 exposures, taken from 1:23-2:20 AM CDT; each a 30 second exposure at f/3.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. The length of time created the star trails effect. I set my camera to shoot each exposure continuously, which allowed me to sit back and watch the "show." The farm structures in the top image have been "light painted" from my flashlight. The middle image is one of the 102 exposures and includes the brightest meteor streak. The bottom image is a cropped version of the middle image.