Luckily the clouds cleared up giving me the view of this awesome comet - my first comet viewing- hence the excitement. I couldnt ask for a better gift on Christmas day !!!
I didn't find it that bright as commented in this thread however I wasn't at a very dark site so may be thats why.
Attached is one of the images taken -
Location - Boat Harbour Drive @ Hervey Bay
Settings - f/3.5, 24 sec, 18mm, ISO 1600
Have been out and watched it 3 mornings in a row now. Just beautiful.
Staying at my parents in Beaufort, Vic for Christmas.
We had a dry storm with lightning in all directions which gave the clouds on the left of the pic a nice glow.
Exposure 45 seconds
Aperture f/4.5
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 3200
Great shot Dean! Nice colours and composition. I'm in Bordertown for Xmas and went to a nearby swamp and had the same thunderstorms. Added a nice touch to some images. I'll post mine after my Xmas lunch!
Quote:
Originally Posted by deanog
Have been out and watched it 3 mornings in a row now. Just beautiful.
Staying at my parents in Beaufort, Vic for Christmas.
We had a dry storm with lightning in all directions which gave the clouds on the left of the pic a nice glow.
Does anybody know it's current magnitude? I heard it peaked at -4 and looking at it last night it seems fainter. I can see this in the images I've taken over the last two nights
Here are a couple of the best images I took last night at a swamp near Bordertown, SA. The orange glow is from lightning in the distance. I posted these on another thread but this seems to be the main thread people are looking at for images!
More of my images can be found here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...hlight=lovejoy
Thanks Liz! Yes I might just do that and a few other places.
According to SkippySky it looks like just about the whole south east corner of country will be covered in cloud tonight so it's up to you WA, northern NSW and Qld'ers to get stuck into imaging the comet! At least I can sleep tonight!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Liz
Dean and Wayne, they are spectacular images - stars,trees, comet, water and reflections!! I hope you have sent them to Spaceweather!!
Down at Otaki River Estuary again this morning. Used an 18mm lens this time. Atmosphere was a little hazy today. Shot at ISO 800 today, forgot to reset the camera from shooting morning twilight yesterday.
Last edited by pixelsaurus; 26-12-2011 at 03:09 PM.
Reason: correction.
Looks like Brisbane and Gold Coast are finally going to get a clear night tonight, fingers crossed!
Yep we did, too late
If your southern/eastern sky was without light pollution you might see it, I took 8sec exposure at 1600iso and got the faintest tail, almost not visible. Brisbane sucks, clouds suck, send me back to the country where it never rained.
Finally woke up at 3.00am to find clearish skys this morning
Drove 10 minutes to work (150 acre) dark sky site to find the gate locked !, oh man its never freakin locked !!..Luckily I remembered ,eventually , the back gate was open .
very impressive comet , different looking to mcnaught in that the tail; appears much straighter /longer ?, not overly bright as mentioned I can see why people are putting a few hundred KMS in to get away from the city lights,will be interesting to see what happens when it gets a little further away from sunrise and higher. I'm off camping to minnie waters for a while so hopefully the weather plays nice and I can try out my new weifeng tripod I got yesterday .
OMG, what a difference 2 days make. Went to a dark site, 1 hr from where I live and the tail has faded soooo much. I could see it naked eye... just ..... but better with averted vision. I believe the tail was longer though.
Thought the tail had split quite a bit with the separation of the dust and ion sections, but not having looked at my pics yet, maybe it was just because it is now in the Milky way.
Good onya Liz. Glad to see that you have been getting some good views.
Unfortunately nothing to report today other than the possibility that Murphy is back from his holiday. Brilliantly clear last night when I hit the sack. Got up at my usual (well lately anyway) 2.30 a.m. to find a layer of stratus cumulus over the whole plain. Every little town in the district was lighting up the clouds. I waited around for 40 mins and it only seemed to be getting thicker. I packed it in after that. Woke at 6.00 a.m. to see the sun streaming in my bedroom window. Got up to find there was no sign of cloud anywhere! The Met Service predicted another glorious day for us they just forgot to mention Murphy.
There is still a chance tomorrow morning. In the meantime I'm hoping that all of you folks out west of me have some stunning pics to post soon.
After 3 days of observation I think the tail is getting bigger but fainter and the sepparation between the two tails is now harder to see with the naked eye.
Dramatic drop in brightness? Damn. Adelaide's weather will be fine from wed onwards, with a chance it will be clearish tomorrow. Hopefully the tail doesn't fade too much.