A Perseid over Cassiopeia

A single-frame capture of a bright green-white meteor beneath the W-shaped Cassiopeia. The wider field also resolves the Double Cluster in Perseus, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) near the upper edge, and the open cluster NGC 752 at right; the meteor's color, August date, and trajectory are consistent with the Perseid shower.

Observation

Date: 15 Aug 2026
Time: 01:31 CEST
Site: Campolungo, Amandola, Marche, Italy
Bortle: Class 4
Bortle Class 4
Rural/Suburban Transition
Azimuth: +60° 00' 00.0"
Altitude: +48° 42' 00.0"

Atmospherics

Visibility: Excellent
Weather: Clear sky, dry mountain air, light breeze
Moon: 6% Waxing Crescent - Below horizon

Acquisition

Camera: Panasonic Lumix G7
Lens: Panasonic Lumix 25mm f/1.7
Mount: Static Tripod (Untracked)
Integration: 1 x 8s

Optics

Focal Length: 25mm
Aperture: f/1.7
ISO: ISO 1600

Post-Processing

Software: darktable
Pre-Processing: Single RAW development, embedded lens correction, LMMSE demosaicing, hot-pixel removal.
Post-Processing: AgX scene-referred tone mapping, Tone Equalizer background shaping, reduced profiled wavelet denoise to preserve the meteor, Color Balance RGB tuning, masked highlight brilliance and chroma enhancement along the trail.