thanks for that simple solution. I may get to try that over the weekend where I'm off to.
It has been a heck of a month. I just had a browse through my McNaught photo album from 5 years ago. That was a similar hectic month as well. I will have just as much pleasure sitting back on cloudy nights pouring over the pictures of Lovejoy in the future too.
OK, looks about 37 degrees as far as I can see it (use averted vision on the little inset). I'll be imaging shortly - will try a blink animation if I can come close to last night's shot.
Cheers -
Last edited by Rob_K; 20-01-2012 at 01:45 AM.
Reason: Forgot to attach pic
Complete stuff up with the widefield at 18mm, don't wanna talk about it.
Got a 'consolation' shot at 55mm, tail would extend well out of frame but it's lost in vignetting near the edge. Canon 400D, 4 x 3 min 20 sec, ISO 1600, F/4.5; 14:00, 19 Jan 2012 UT: http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...llredinvsm.jpg
Hi all, had a murky sky tonight with thin cloud comming and going. This is just one exposure of 4 minutes at F2 with 24mm lens and astro 40D at ISO 1600.
Hi all, had a murky sky tonight with thin cloud comming and going. This is just one exposure of 4 minutes at F2 with 24mm lens and astro 40D at ISO 1600.
Excellent Lester! Shows the tail right to edge of frame, about 38 degrees. I shot a bit wider, tail seems to go faintly right into the Milky Way, 39 degrees.
Sky was pretty good here but it's getting harder to image by the night. Maybe in a couple of nights time more of the tail will be revealed as it moves into a clearer patch of sky.
Impressive shots still Lester and Rob, well done!!
I dont know Mozzie, it had been seen in binocs a few days ago, so should be visiible in scope with a very wide angle EP????
Its funny .... usually with comets we are searching in our scopes, and find them before they become naked eye observable, but this beauty was visibible and 'BANG' ..... out there before we had a chance to drag the scope put.
I dont know Mozzie, it had been seen in binocs a few days ago, so should be visiible in scope with a very wide angle EP????
Its funny .... usually with comets we are searching in our scopes, and find them before they become naked eye observable, but this beauty was visibible and 'BANG' ..... out there before we had a chance to drag the scope put.
Recognition with a scope would be the problem I think Liz. There's no 'head' and the pointy end's an ethereal waft of nothing. The tail broadens to a degree or two wide and you're not going to see that even with the widest field in a scope I don't think because it is too ill-defined & faint.
Binocs seem to be the only real chance. I've tried in nice dark skies and can't see anything but again it comes down to recognition I think. If you've followed the fading in binocs (like Coops has), then you know what you're looking for. Try 'cold' and I suspect you haven't got much of a chance. Use the Force, sense it, but it won't appear as a nice dim comet tail in the usual way!
Fantastic work again Rob on recording the tail for 39 degrees. Thanks for your comments Liz.
Yes extreme wide field is the best way to record/see this large faint comet. IMO to try and see this in a telescope would be like trying to see the Horse Head.
Here is my stack of only 4x4 minute exposures with 24mm lens at F2 and Astro 40D at ISO 1600. Shows the tial with more contrast. Right side of frame is hazey due to thin cloud.
Yes extreme wide field is the best way to record/see this large faint comet. IMO to try and see this in a telescope would be like trying to see the Horse Head.
yes i was searching for 45mins just in case skysafari was out i was using ngc1617 as a goto point then back to comet as skysafari was using
04h35m45.8s
-54deg48'15.5s
for the comets point in the sky!!!!!!!!!!
was this close or am i still aways..
as seen in your photo's it's still very large and faint,where as most comets are in the eyepiece and beautiful to see...i was just trying for one last look!!!!!!!
Just a bit of rough maths from the 39-odd degrees of tail detectable on 20 Jan:
Earth was 0.984 AU from Sun, comet 'head' was 1.17 AU from Sun & 0.616 AU from Earth at the time. Using an assumption that the tail points directly away from the Sun (probably a reasonable assumption given its extreme straightness and the fact that the comet is a sungrazer), then the detectable tail length was about 1.24 AU or 185 million kilometres! It would only take an extra degree or two of tail length to become detectable over the next few days and the length would be around 200 million kilometres.
Just a bit of rough maths from the 39-odd degrees of tail detectable on 20 Jan:
Earth was 0.984 AU from Sun, comet 'head' was 1.17 AU from Sun & 0.616 AU from Earth at the time. Using an assumption that the tail points directly away from the Sun (probably a reasonable assumption given its extreme straightness and the fact that the comet is a sungrazer), then the detectable tail length was about 1.24 AU or 185 million kilometres! It would only take an extra degree or two of tail length to become detectable over the next few days and the length would be around 200 million kilometres.
Thanks Liz. That would also mean that the furthest detectable part of the tail on 20 Jan was around 2.4 AU from the Sun, or over 360 million kilometres out. That's a long way, much further out than Mars' 1.66 AU from the Sun at the time, and almost half the current distance from the Sun to Jupiter (744 mk)!
... hard to comprehend, many thanks Rob. 
