Orionid Meteor Shower Tonight (October 20/21)!

Perseid Meteor Shower III HD Video, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Here's an article for more information:
news.yahoo.com/s/space/20091020/sc_space/getoutorionidmet...
The Orionid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show tonight into the predawn hours Wednesday, weather permitting.

This annual meteor shower is created when Earth passes through trails of comet debris left in space long ago by Halley's Comet. The "shooting stars" develop when bits typically no larger than a pea , and mostly sand-grain-sized, vaporize in Earth's upper atmosphere.

"Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.

My Interview in Photographer Magazine

My Interview in Photographer Magazine, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

I can't read it, but it looks cool! Click on the photo to go see more pics from the article on Flickr...

Free Business Card Offer from MOO

How do the Free MOO Cards Look?, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

How do they turn out? Judge for yourself... mine just arrived. Double sided, high resolution, matte finish, printed on heavy cardstock, what's not to like? The only flaw is the slight white margin at the top of the photo on the contact info side.

In case you missed my notices regarding this offer on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter (JeffSull), here's where you can get your 50 free trial business cards available here from MOO for the first 10,000 Flickr users: www.moo.com/en/partner/flickr-business-cards

Upcoming Meteor Showers for Fall 2009

Perseid Meteor Timelapse I Revised: Slower HD Video, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

As you plan where and when you might want to get out and shoot during the rest of 2009, consider the following meteor showers coming up:
Orionid - Oct 20-22
"October's new Moon also perfectly favours the Orionids at their peak in 2009. The shower's radiant, near the celestial equator, is at a useful elevation by around local midnight in either hemisphere, somewhat before in the north, so most of the world can enjoy the shower."
Northern Taurids - Nov 12
"The NTA peak has only a waning crescent Moon, however. With near-ecliptic radiants, all meteoricists can observe these streams, albeit northern hemisphere observers are somewhat better-placed, as here suitable radiant zenith distances persist for much of the night, though from the southern hemisphere, a good 3-5 hours' watching around local midnight is possible with Taurus well above the horizon."
Leonid - Nov 17
"Luckily, new Moon on November 16 ensures perfectly dark skies for covering whatever events happen"
"the 21h-22h UT apparently critical interval will fall best chiefly for sites across Asia, from the extreme east of Europe eastwards to Japan and places at similar longitudes, but with the possibility of some unusual activity at almost any stage from ~ 6h-24h UT on November 17, only European and African longitudes look set to miss out."
Geminid - Dec 13/14
"One of the finest, and probably the most reliable, of the major annual showers presently observable, whose peak this year is virtually coincident with new Moon."
More information:
skytour.homestead.com/met2009.html
www.imo.net/calendar/2009#nta

The Tuarids will peak on November 12 during the photography workshop that I'll be conducting in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks Nov 11-14:
www.MountainHighWorkshops.com

Hope you can join us!

Fall Isn't Just Colorful Leaves

I've decided not to upload most of these photos to Flickr. The site is simply too delicate to risk having people find it and trample it into oblivion!

Fall Colors in the Eastern Sierra

Thursday in the Eastern Sierra, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

I arrived at North Lake October 1, only to discover that I missed the peak color by a day or two due to a wind storm that blew off the best red to yellow colors on the far hillside. The color present a few days ago seems to have partially blown off the trees, partially turned towards brown, but there were still some green leaves, leaving the possibility of more color in a few days.

You can find decent color in patches if you look hard enough, but the best color might not be until more of the green starts to change at lower elevations, perhaps late next week?

By the time I returned here Sunday morning, there was about 2-3" of snow by the lake. The same thing happened last year, a dusting of snow around the end of September, early October. It was a little heavier this time, and there were prints from a dozen horses and mules as the packer started in around dawn to rescue their customers from the likely 4-6" of snow higher up. There were about 6-8 snow-covered cars in the parking lot by the pack station, people off in the backcountry, most likely experiencing heavier snow. I'd like to see their pictures!