Hey! You know what’s coming up again within the next few days? That’s right – the Orionids meteor shower.
You know what I’m going to get no worthwhile images of at all? By the most astounding of coincidences, it’s also the Orionids meteor shower.
It’s not like I don’t try, but between work schedules, weather, temperature, and just plain motivation, I only get out to less than a third of the showers that occur, any given year, but dependably, when I do there’s nothing to see. I’ve been coasting on the promises made back in 2001 by the Leonids, a truly spectacular storm, and believing that such conditions may one day repeat so I will be able to get some rewarding images this time around, but you know, nineteen years is a long time to go with no success, and I’m getting jaded. I mean, it’s bad enough to go that long with just the Leonids, but no storm that I’ve been out to observe has panned out, at all, so…
And yes, I’m aware that by anticipating and announcing the disappointment, I could be jinxing it, thereby having good luck this year, but you and I both know that’s not gonna happen.
Feel free to try on your own, however – the moon will be gone most of the observing hours. Stellarium and Heaven’s Above can both help you find other sky objects, and Mars is still near opposition and pretty big in the sky (you know, for Mars,) so there are other things you can be trying while out there, especially if you have a spare camera and/or a telescope. I may, in open defiance of fate and history and pessimism, try myself, and there are a few experiments that I can attempt.
But getting photos of meteors? Psscchhhffff….