Quote:
Originally Posted by glenc
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That's a good image!
The tail appeared to extend right to the edge of the Coal Sack in my images this morning, or about 29-deg, but nothing clear beyond that. No early morning for me, just a very late night. Watched the tail rising, but couldn't see anything positive visually beyond a point about the distance between A- to B-Cent below Alpha Centauri. Assuming it maintained brightness all the way down that would be 14-deg visually. Above that point there were glimpses but I certainly wouldn't be confident I was seeing anything other than a strip of Milky Way glow.
I've seen a report that the tail was clearly visible crossing the south side of the Coal Sack but I think that this was an illusion, as there's a hook of brighter sky in there that is visible anytime. I could see it clearly, apparently in line with the tail, but it's the strip that defines the beak of the Emu!
Here's my shots, deep images on the fainter parts of the tail. First a composite at 55mm:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...sectcompsm.jpg
Second, crop from an 18mm shot, 3x3 min at ISO 1600:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...UT18mmcrop.jpg
Third, three small gif animations, blinking this morning's field against base images to show the extent of the dim ghostly tail, which is difficult to gauge in the above shots:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...imc29Dec11.gif
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...ima29Dec11.gif
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...ima29Dec11.gif
Cheers -