Comet ISON and Mars, Brisbane 3rd October

[von Tom (Tom)]

Hi everyone. There ws a clear sky this morning in Brisbane as Mars was rising. Comet ISON is within a few degrees of the planet at the moment so I though I'd try and catch it on an image before the twilight started. It was about 11 degrees above the horizon.

These images are from a stack of 22 taken between 4:11am and 4:32am using a full spectrum Canon EOS 600D, with Astromik CLS-CCD filter, at 30sec, ISO 6400 f/2.8, 200mm lens.

Unfortunately my focus is off but will try again tomorrow if all OK.

I *think* I can see a tail (diagonal from bottom right to top left) ....but that's probably just me!

Mars is 318 million km away and Comet ISON is 314 million km away.

Thanks for looking,

Tom

[Lee]

Well caught.... There isn't much there yet it seems. At 11 deg altitude you did well.

[von Tom (Tom)]

Thanks Lee. I'm pretty sure more would be visible if I actually got it in focus.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Well done Tom. It's a tricky one low in the eastern twilight.

It's in a tricky position for me, but I'll see if I can get something with the ED80. The SW120 won't swing that far north where it's sitting as I shoot through the the kitchen window lol.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Good on you for starting the ball rolling Tom.

It's going to be very difficult to image this comet from here. There won't be much point in trying to guide on something so low - you'd be guiding out the seeing and bouncing all over the place. So it means really good polar alignment and short exposures I guess - and OSC rather than filters too.

The juxtaposition with Mars seems to be at its closest (within a 1 degree FOV) around 3-4 a.m. on Saturday 19th but the pair will be very low. The astronomical twilight will start about 4 a.m. that day so the window of opportunity is pretty small. But it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing so I'll be giving it a go from up here at TenChain Hill.

Peter

[Star Catcher (Ted Dobosz)]

Well done Tom!

Ted