A pair of meteors will pass through the night sky sometime this week. The Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids meteors would leave five to 12 shooting stars per hour as it passes. You can capture this amazing celestial event with your iPhone by following the steps provided below.
The Perseids meteor shower 2021 is still in full effect! Described as the best meteor shower of the year, Perseids offers up to 100 meteors per hour painting the night sky. The event happens every year, starting July 14 until August 24.
Together with this exciting event, two meteors are scheduled to peak on Wednesday night up to early morning hours on Thursday, according to USA Today.
Meteor Shower 2021 Photos
The Southern Delta Aquariid is estimated to produce 12 faint meteors per hour, visible mainly on the Southern sky. It is best to view this event at dawn.
The Alpha Capricornids, on the other hand, would offer five shooting stars for an hour. It is comparably smaller than the first meteor shower. However, the Alpha Capricornids is notable for its bright fireballs during the event!
To emphasize, skywatchers can see three different types of "shooting stars."
First is a small meteor, with its bright head but very faint tail. These meteors would appear for a quick second and leave a very short streak.
Second is an "average-sized" meteor. This one shares the same description as the first but burns up with a brighter color streak.
Last is a fireball, which is a really big meteor. Fireballs are often big and very bright. Sometimes, it also produces a big flash as it breaks up.
How to Snap Photos of the Twin Fireballs Using Your iPhone
You won't need special equipment or scientific background to enjoy this event. In fact, other skywatchers have already captured shooting stars using their iPhone device!
A few things to take note, however, is the location and preparation before the skywatch. Nightsky watching is better when there are no clouds to block the view or a full moon that could outshine the faint shooting stars. Viewers should search for a dark site away from bright lights, like an open field, park, campground or beachside.
Afterward, iPhone users could use this NightCap Camera app and follow the given instructions to capture the meteor shower on their iPhone.
Put your iPhone on a tripod: Keeping the iPhone as steady as possible is essential to capture photos at their best focus.
Turn on Meteor Mode: Open the star icon button on the camera options. Tap the shooting star icon, indicated by a star with three lines. The "Meteor Mode" would be active when the green dot indicator is turned on.
Position the iPhone to the sky: As previously mentioned, pick a dark area with a great view of the night sky.
Activate Shutter Button: Users can wait up to an hour to capture more than one shooting star. After some time, tap the shutter icon again to finish the capture.
This fantastic app would automatically take photos for you. Meteor Mode takes many photos during the waiting period and saves images where it suspects to contain meteors.
