Observers with clear dark skies can see up to 100 meteors per hour. Best viewing and photography will be in the hours just before dawn on Dec 14. Details follow.

Details for viewing the shower are here.

PHOTOGRAPHY

To photograph the meteors, you need a camera with a bulb setting or long exposure setting, spare batteries, a fast (f/2, f/2.8, or f/4) normal to wide angle lens and fast 200 or 400 speed slide film (like Kodak Elite Chrome 200), or 800 speed negative film, or set your digital camera to ISO 400.

If you use 200 speed slide film set the film speed on the camera for ISO 320 (not 200). When you get your film processed, ask for “PUSH 1” processing. If you use 400 speed slide film, set the camera for 400 and get normal processing.

If you use negative film, use Kodak or Fuji 800 speed film and set your camera film speed at 400 (not 800). Get your film processed normally.

With a digital camera, set the ISO to 400. If your digital camera is known for low noise at high ISOs, set it at ISO 800.

Little dots and streaks of light on film are hard to interpret so give your film processor a break. If you are using a film camera and you are at the beginning of a roll, take a normal picture inside before going out to do meteor pictures. This will be a big help to the person that cuts and mounts your slide film after it is processed, or makes prints from your negative film.

Put a 50mm, 28mm, 24mm or wider lens on your camera and set the aperture to f/2.8 (f4 for zoom lenses) and focus the lens on infinity (turn off autofocus).

Put the camera on a tripod (or bean bag), and point it in the direction of the constellation Gemini (see the link above).   Gemini will be toward the east early in the evening, rise until it is straight overhead at 2 am, and descend toward the west through the rest of the night.

Put the camera on bulb, and lock the shutter open for anywhere from 15 seconds to 15 minutes and wait. If you are lucky, one or more meteors will streak through your field of view. Take lots of photos. Have spare batteries. Switch when your “in camera” batteries get tired. Don’t discard the tired batteries – warm them in your pocket and they may bounce back.

A wider angle lens means you have more chance of catching meteors, but the light trails will be shorter. Even if you don’t catch a meteor, you should get some interesting star trails with the longer exposures. With short exposures the stars should be points rather than trails.

It is best if you under a truly dark sky (no city lights).

Have fun!