The Chances

Before you even ask, no, I haven't slept yet. Last night was the peak for the annual Perseids, and I found the PERFECT spot to shoot and view the stars. It's in Nevada City, CA, and is an abandoned airport. For some strange reason they never developed it, so it's this giant runway-sized plot of dirt. It appears to never have been paved. It's great! Away from city lights, high altitude, and nothing blocking the view of the sky.

Each shot was approximately 3 minutes in length, f/4.5, ISO 800, shutter release & tripod.  I shot 66 frames, and managed to catch 2 shooting stars.  I wanted to get a fireball captured, but every one I saw (5 or 6 of them) were out of frame.  The first one I saw lit up the whole sky and lingered for 4 or 5 seconds.

Anyway, here are the photos.  In this first one, the perseid in question is on the right, just above the large tree:



In this one, it's about 1/3 of the way from the right side of the frame, at the top.



The last one isn't of perseids at all, but I loved what happened when the glow of the sun started to become visible in the distance.



Thanks for looking!