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DRACONID MOONDOGS - PART 1
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On the night of Oct 8/9th 2008 I did a three hour Draconid meteor watch from the Maghera countryside from 20.00-23.00 BST. I had the camera gear set up in a nice field with sheep for company during evening twilight. It was a very cool calm night with pockets of mist drifting through the fields. The waxing gibbous Moon was low in the S with Jupiter nearby. I was watching the northern sky for a period then I glanced behind me and spotted a remarkable sight. Two 22 degree moondogs (also called paraselenae) had formed either side of the Moon along with a faint pillar and fragmented halo. The western (R) dog was outstanding. It was extremely bright with rich colours and sported a white 'tail' pointing to the W. On this image you can see the W dog with tail. The bright star is planet Jupiter. Above the dog is Scutum and Aquila. The Moon is in Capricornus, you can see Alpha above. Note the nice wave structure to the cirrus. These were taken at ISO 400, 15 sec's, using the 28mm lens at F/2.8
