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Old 02-01-2012, 01:47 PM
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Great images Chris and Phil!!
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Old 02-01-2012, 02:37 PM
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kinetic (Steve)
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02 Jan 2012

This morning's results, backyard with a tracked DSLR.
Thin, high cloud spoiled the view as twilight started
but on closer view of subs, nearly all my subs from 1am onwards
had thin cloud drifting in from the NW.

Skies were still very crisp though. Could easily see the star in the Coal Sack.

Steve
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Old 02-01-2012, 03:29 PM
callingrohit (Vivek)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by philiphart View Post
two more, from this morning Monday 2nd Jan at the Gippsland Lakes.

5DmkII
24mm, 60 secs, f1.8, ISO800
50mm, 4min, f3.2, ISO400

cheers
Phil
Fantastic images Phil. Are these tracked using a scope or are they just captured via a DSLR ? The reason I ask is you have a 4min exposure snap and its not showing any star trail.
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Old 02-01-2012, 04:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by callingrohit View Post
Fantastic images Phil. Are these tracked using a scope or are they just captured via a DSLR ? The reason I ask is you have a 4min exposure snap and its not showing any star trail.
The 4min shot with the 50mm is tracking (you'd really know it if it wasn't!). The 1min shot with the 24mm lens is just on fixed tripod. If I do another night, I may stick the 24mm lens on the mount as well to do longer exposure, given how faint it's getting. Off the tripod I have a sequence of shots I can turn into a timelapse one day.

Phil
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Old 02-01-2012, 04:58 PM
callingrohit (Vivek)
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thanks for replying Phil. What scope do you use ? Your polar alignment of the scope must be a quick and right at the mark to get such accurate and amazing tracked images.
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Old 02-01-2012, 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by callingrohit View Post
thanks for replying Phil. What scope do you use ? Your polar alignment of the scope must be a quick and right at the mark to get such accurate and amazing tracked images.
No telescope involved, just my trusty old Vixen GP-DX equatorial mount. It has a polar alignment scope inside which makes polar alignment pretty easy. It's quite accurate although a 4 minute shot with a 50mm lens is not too demanding anyway.
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  #467  
Old 03-01-2012, 01:07 AM
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Tail 26 degrees, maybe 34?

Hi all,

thanks to all the contributors who have been wetting my cometery appetite whilst the sky has been wetting the ground here for the past 5 days!

It looked promising at dusk for me to finally get a chance at doing some very long exposures on our trusty tracking mount (it was used to photograph The Great Comet of 1970, Comet Bennett, by its original owner). So I hit the sack at 11 p.m. Set the alarm for moonset at 1.30a.m. I was awoken by what I thought was someone ringing my landline in the lounge at 12.30 a.m. I didn't get to the phone in time, so I went outside to find the only part of the sky that was clear was to my north east.

It didn't look at all promising at home so I loaded up the car and headed up State Highway 1 that runs up the guts of the North Island. I ended up doing a round trip of about 110 km's, but it was worth it. I actually went up on a side road that I was meant to take almost 5 years ago on a similar weather pattern when we were chasing McNaught's tail. On that night I ended up leading us down a blind valley after missing the correct turnoff by 600m! By the time that I got out the other end of the valley half of McNaught's tail was set!! Not this time though.

The spot I chose was an elevated view away from the highway on a quiet rural road. I tell you, if I hadn't known the comet was there I would easily have mistaken it as just an outlying stretch of the Milkyway, if I had noticed it at all. To both the naked-eye and binos the tail's brightness varied considerably along its length. The first 5 degrees by Atria were fairly easy to see. The next 5 weren't, then up by Musca it was bright again up to the border of Musca and Carina.

That was initially as far as I thought the tail went. After sweeping across that end and re-assessing it with the unaided-eye I think that the tail may have reached into the middle of the Diamond Cross. It was hard case because I had to blot out the light of the Eta Carina region with my hand so that I could concentrate on detecting the end of the tail!

I took 10 one minute subs, and 11 thirty second subs before cloud closed in around me. All were taken with the Canon 10D, 35mm, f/4.5, 800 iso. Included are two of the 30 second shots that picked up a very bright Iridium flare. I have done a little photo-shopping on these frames to reveal something of what I saw.

I'll be passing on my sub frames to my mate Stephen Chadwick who has the gear and the ability to make something from my efforts this morning.

If I hadn't woken early as I did, then I am sure that I wouldn't have been so keen to drive north from what I saw when I got home. Maybe I just imagined the phone call in my sleep? I am a happy chappy either way.

Best of luck to all of you.

Cheers,

Coops
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Old 03-01-2012, 05:33 AM
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glenc (Glen)
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It was cloudy here today and I was glad to see Ian's images.
The tail on Terry's comet seems to be about 29 degrees long on Ian's images. That is the distance to the mag 5.6 star SAO 256800.
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Old 03-01-2012, 06:14 AM
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gaa_ian (Ian)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fringe_dweller View Post
hey all so impressed and moved By Comet Lovejoy experience, like everybody here i had to write a tune about it and record it today, as thats what i do these days

link here

http://soundcloud.com/rusty-ryder/ba...-comet-lovejoy

immortalised in song!
Awesome Kearn
Writing songs is what I do now too, so I really appreciate this.
Should be a hit on the Astrocamp circuit
I look forward to getting together for a jam some time
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Old 03-01-2012, 07:11 AM
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Thanks Steve/Phil for those QHY8 images, Coops for the images and report.

Terry
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Old 03-01-2012, 07:53 AM
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Hi again,

here is my mate Steve's first attempt with combining the 10 one minute subs. A great improvement. He wants me to take some dark frames tonight that might improve it a little more.

Glen you were spot on with that star. The tail was very definite up to that point, but not so certain after that.

I had to laugh at one point when I thought that clouds were starting to form over the tail. It turned out to be the dark nebulae running from Musca to Chamaeleon when I looked through the bino's!

Cheers, Coops.
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Old 03-01-2012, 10:05 AM
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I took some nice shots from Port Macquarie in NSW on December 25th and 26th. I think they're too big to post here so I hope it's ok to post a link to my blog: http://hughsblog.wordpress.com/categ...rophotography/
Definitely one of the most beautiful things I've seen in the sky lately!
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Old 03-01-2012, 10:21 AM
callingrohit (Vivek)
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good shots Hugh
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Old 03-01-2012, 10:37 AM
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renormalised (Carl)
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Nice shots, Hugh

Welcome to IIS
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Old 03-01-2012, 10:50 AM
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Thanks guys, I've been hovering for years but finally had something to contribute :-)
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Old 03-01-2012, 11:50 AM
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Ah well, had to be done, star trail from this morning attached, 1:40am 3 Jan AEDST.

'Normal' shot here, tail is looking impressive if faint.
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...fullbadjsm.jpg

I could see it easily with averted vision extending out past Gamma Muscae (to 25-deg) and possibly almost out to the Southern Pleiades (to 32-deg) although there were some 'fortuitous' faint star alignments that led the eye that far so difficult to be sure. Lester's deep images from the last two mornings when blinked against each other strongly suggest the tail extends faintly to the top of his frames, a length of 40-deg (and probably beyond)!

Cheers -
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Old 03-01-2012, 12:08 PM
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Hi Rob,

you mentioned Lester's images from the last two mornings. Whereabouts can we find them?

Superb shots Hugh. Great locations.

Cheers

Coops
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Old 03-01-2012, 12:15 PM
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Hi again Rob,

the shot from your album highlights the star chains you mention, as well as the group of stars in the Diamond Cross near the Southern Pleiades that can make it difficult to tell if it is the tail, or just the effect of that group. A similar thing happened with Hyakutake, and that tail was 90 degrees from the Milkyway!

Cheers

Coops
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Old 04-01-2012, 05:28 AM
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Comet Lovejoy was naked eye this morning but only just and only parts of it.
Hugh's images are impressive.
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Old 05-01-2012, 04:28 PM
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Still Naked-eye Thursday Morning

The weather turned to the prevailing westerly pattern so that is bad news for us west coasters on the North Island of New Zealand. So it was over the mountains again to our alternate site at Stonehenge Aotearoa in the Wairarapa. Brilliant over there. Arrived at the end of twilight and thought that I could detect some of the tail through Apus and Chamaeleon even with the Moon up. A couple hours of sleep then up before moonset. The comet was higher and once again I thought that the tail was there in the same vicinity. Once the influence of the moon was finally over my suspicions were confirmed.

I started imaging with my trusty old Nikon F film camera and a 35mm lens. The negs look good so I will get them scanned tomorrow and report back.

I was using the Nankervill Schmidt Camera mounting for tracking purposes. Using the Phoenix Astronomical Society's Canon 10D, which I have been using throughout this apparition, I was finally able to take some long, guided exposures as opposed to the limitations of the tripod. I have a similar tracking platform at home, the only trouble being that when the comet finally cleared some pesky powerlines the weather turned, so I never got the chance to take some long exposures from 40m from my back door! Instead I had to do a 300km round trip to get the desired results.

To the eye after moonset I thought I could easily follow the tail out to and just past Miaplacidus (Beta Car) in the Diamond Cross. From there I was less sure. With that in mind I took two 10 minute exposures that mostly overlap, in order to have any chance of picking up the full length of tail with the Canon 35mm lense.

In my preparations to travel over the Tararua Ranges I left a vital bit of kit behind. The remote cord that attaches to the 10D and makes for taking 'bulb' pictures that much easier was 150 km away when I needed it! Fortunately the camera on its photographic knuckle was mounted on an angle-iron bar that I was able to rest my palm on, whilst pressing down the button with my index finger. I did two 5 minute shots first before tackling two ten minute shots.

It is a bit of an act maintaining the right pressure on the button for that length of time. Some early morning mozzies took an interst in my vulnerable right hand during the 10 minute shots. I was able to chase them away quietly with my free left hand. Just goes to show that even an old hand like me should write up a checklist of essential kit for a trip like that.

Photo details are Canon 10D, 35mm @ f/4.5, 10 minutes each frame, 800 ISO. The image supplied with this post is a low res one from me playing around with the two raws in Photoshop Elements.

Looking at our forecast I don't expect to see The Great Christmas Comet of 2011 again. I only clocked up 800 km this time compared with over 1,000 km for McNaught 5 years ago chasing the great comet's tail. It has been a fantastic ride once again. I saw it on ten out of the past 17 mornings, and most of those were when it was at it's best.

I'll post the results from the film tomorrow night. Most of you may be surprised at how well that comes out too.

Cheers,

Coops
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