A staff of the Thiruvananthapuram Observatory has joined a series of astrophotographers who successfully clicked snaps of the Perseid meteor shower from the capital.
Rahul Dev L., an expert in handling optical telescopes, armed himself with his personal mobile phone for the endeavour.
Mr. Dev, who works as a technical assistant at the Observatory run by Kerala University, had initially chosen the location for the sighting on Sunday, August 13. However, the glaring lights in the heart of the city made it impossible to spot the meteors from atop the observatory.
He, however, achieved success later as he revived his efforts from his own roof-top at Maranalloor. Setting an exposure time of 20 seconds, ISO speed of 3,200, and focal length of 4mm on his mobile phone camera, he spent the early morning of Monday, August 14 lying down on the roof from 1.30 a.m. to 4 a.m. to click 580 photos, of which six photos contained images of the meteor showers.
“Optical telescopes show you a magnified sky through which the meteor will not be visible. The field of view for these telescopes is too small to visualise meteors,” Mr. Dev explained, while adding that his experience of working at the observatory helped him hone his skills in image processing and equipment handling.
Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the debris field of a comet or of an asteroid as these objects orbit the sun, flaking fragments along their path. That is the reason why a given meteor shower generally appears around the same time each calendar year.
According to R. Jayakrishnan, the honorary director of the observatory, perseid meteors are visible during the period between July 14 to September 1 annually when the parent comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle burns up about 100 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle orbits the sun once in 133 years.
Perseid meteors are colorful, leaving behind a glowing trail. Under a clear, pollution-free night sky, one can spot more than 90 such meteors per hour. Such aspects made the Perseid showers one of the most treasured celestial galas, he said.
