2020 f8 @ 200mm f3.2

[astronobob (Bob)]

Check Out the Tail

Interesting going down & back through the nsw/qld border @ 2am, another story.

Image Location: Hasting Point, nsw.

Gear: SW Star Tracker; Canon 6DII, Canon 70-200 'L'

C (Swan) found on 2nd frame @ 70mm,

Image Stats: 16 x 30sec; iso-3200.

Note: Image has been cropped, 1/4 off both left & right as it stands - so I should have done it Portrait mode to see how far that tail went ?

[CalvinKlein (Kelvin)]

Gee that tail is long AND wide. I'm going to try my ASI1600 and 135mm tomorrow clouds permitting. Same FoV as Damian Peach's most recent effort.

You obviously didnt get the memo that said your 50km didnt include coming into NSW ;-) I bet that was fun !

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Wow - very cool Bob.

[lazjen (Chris)]

Yes, that tail is long - wow, I didn't get much of the tail overall I guess.

Good pic.

[Dennis]

Wow - very nice Bob, what a tail. Good shot.

Cheers

Dennis

[RB (Andrew)]

What a beauty mate.

RB

[h0ughy (David)]

excellent!!

[astronobob (Bob)]

Appreciate your responses everyone, some awesome images out there. Clouds lurking around SE Qld coastal areas for the next week, then looking to clear up when F8 nearing its predicted brightest ?
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Originally Posted by CalvinKlein

Gee that tail is long AND wide. I'm going to try my ASI1600 and 135mm tomorrow clouds permitting. Same FoV as Damian Peach's most recent effort.

You obviously didnt get the memo that said your 50km didnt include coming into NSW ;-) I bet that was fun !

135mm in portrait should do very nicely, Kelvin, looking forward to it weather pending ?
Damian's image's are world class eh

All the best with the 135 ..

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Got a nice long tail there Bob! I never got around to wide field. Fatigue and clouds won.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Crikey! That's some serious tail there Bob

[astronobob (Bob)]

Originally Posted by cometcatcher

Got a nice long tail there Bob! I never got around to wide field. Fatigue and clouds won.

Cheers, Kevin, Fatigue and clouds, yup, recently the same here. Should be some better conditions in a week or so, hopefully F8 don't sink into the twilight too much by then

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Crikey! That's some serious tail there Bob

Thanx Dunk, was quite surprising to be honest, yet saddened in a way when stretching levels to see it going out of frame

[Derek Klepp]

Great capture Bob careful on the border.
Derek

[astronobob (Bob)]

Originally Posted by CalvinKlein

You obviously didnt get the memo that said your 50km didnt include coming into NSW ;-) I bet that was fun !

Originally Posted by Derek Klepp

Great capture Bob careful on the border.
Derek

Thnx Derek

Ah, the border, no problem in reality, but not knowing what to expect initially, worth a shot & prepared to claim I was on a scientific expedition with sophisticated astronomy equipment, star maps, ephemera's etc bla bla bla, Lol.
Also had a few snips of the Qld Heath Directives regarding the 50k travel and nothing in there saying that the Border crossing was included - Loop-hole
2am southbound and Not a Traffic/border control site in place = yay, I'm through. 5k further down there was a border control on the North bound side, Hmm, = I deal with that when the time comes

Gets to Hasting point and the short 500mtr road to headland C/park was Barricaded, didnt come all this way for nothing, found a way around that, no further comment

Anyhoo, The border control on way back noticed my Qld Rego and asked if I had a Green go Card or what ever they are, Nope' so was directed into the 'Special Lane'
Officer ask what my 'doings' were about ?
Me: "Scientific Astronomical Data Collection New Comet, need dark skies, etc ect, I get phone out for the Snips of comet ephemeris , Qld Health directives etc.
Officer: Do you do this on a daily basis or a 'one-off' ?
Me: "Only this morning and hopefully tomorow morn weather permitting.
Officer: You can put your phone down, no need to record me ?
Me: Nah, just have qld health directives in preparedness, btw, I didnt see a border control station on the way down at 2am.
Officer: No, where do you live ?
Me: Ashmore, which is 52klms to Hastings Point.
Officer: Can I see your licence for proof of residency ?
Me: showed Licence ,,,
Officer: Ok, you can go
Me: Keool, I wasn't recording you, infact, you guys are doing a great job, out here in the early hrs ect !
Officer: Thanx for your kind words
And they opened the barricade - too easy ..

All in all, a little excitement, tho seeing the border crossing is now apparently 'off limits' considering my reason was non essential I guess ?
Interesting the officer did Not really state in any way that I should Not have gone through, tho I may, but will probably go Wst if another opportunity for comet image, prob better as the coast always has the salt air about and causes some gradients in wide-fields..

[Peter Ward]

Having gone no further than my backyard obs to capture this comet
this morning (May 7th)

The tail was barely detectable from southern Sydney today. A full moon and high cirrus made the task extremely trying....

Have to say your image is waaaay better
Timing and a dark sky location makes all the difference! Well done

[Derek Klepp]

Bob my better half has worked at John Flynn for over 25yrs and so does the crossing several times a fortnight with all the signs. I thought the car park was blocked I haven’t been there to photograph birds since the restrictions only positive of that is it will get rid of all those overnight campers taking up the prime position to view the surf early in the morning.
Anyway enjoyed that story but it was well worth it for that pic.Hopefully restrictions will ease soon and we can get back to normality and some pics of the Winter Milky Way.
Cheers Derek

[astronobob (Bob)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Having gone no further than my backyard obs to capture this comet
this morning (May 7th)

The tail was barely detectable from southern Sydney today. A full moon and high cirrus made the task extremely trying....

Have to say your image is waaaay better
Timing and a dark sky location makes all the difference! Well done

Thnx Peter, yeah, timing etc is tricky with Comets, only a small window over a week or so with this one, as is similar to most other comets over the decades. .
I havent done any astro for quite some time, found roughly where comet was, only clue initially was it was in Pisces. Stellarium didnt show it the day before, updated the Orbital elements, still didnt show it, my version is/was the very 1st one, and didnt except current updating, installed the latest, updated orbitals, and there it was,,, and said to self, must go in the morning, clouds on way next day, must go in morning !

Glad you caught sight of it and have an image for the record, good stuff
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Originally Posted by Derek Klepp

Bob my better half has worked at John Flynn for over 25yrs and so does the crossing several times a fortnight with all the signs. I thought the car park was blocked I haven’t been there to photograph birds since the restrictions only positive of that is it will get rid of all those overnight campers taking up the prime position to view the surf early in the morning.
Anyway enjoyed that story but it was well worth it for that pic.Hopefully restrictions will ease soon and we can get back to normality and some pics of the Winter Milky Way.
Cheers Derek

Ah, John Flynn, been there a couple times over the decades, nice hosp. So, yeah, needing the border pass, keool

Hmm, looking forward to some clear Winter Milky Way's also. Freezer suit time