Photographing stars and metor showers

[Suneet]

I've never tried this either, but I think I will this shower. I'm a bit af an amatuer photographer, so here's some tips:

Your standard camera, on a tripod, is probably best suited for this kind of thing. Probably, very few digital cameras allow sufficiently long exposures.
[edit] The standard camers is an SLR, I assume [/edit]

You actually don't want to magnifiy the sky. No telescope needed. You need to observe a large area and gather all the light there possible, so a good lens would be a standard 50mm f/1.8 , and even wider if you want.

The camera needs to be able to take long exposures. See if your camera has a "bulb" or B setting, where you push the shutter down and it stays open as long as the shutter is pressed. If it's an electronic SLR, it might allow long exposures without the B setting. To keep the shutter open with bulb, you need to get a cable shutter release, so the camera doesn't shake while it's pressed. In a shower, 5-10min of exposure should caputre alot of meteors.

Also, you need some really fast film, like ISO 1600 or 3200 . You can get some probably at any little camera shop.

And whever you do, point the camera away from the radiant.

Good luck!