Yes, it’s a personal thing. In 1965 my father woke me up before dawn on morning and showed me a sight I have never forgotten – Comet Ikeya-Seki spread across the morning sky! My father, who died several years ago, was always interested in the sky. He grew up in Central Queensland in the 1930s and would have spent many nights camping out on the sheep properties on which he worked, under dark skies we can only dream of. When Comet Halley passed by in 1986 he was decidedly unimpressed and got the local newspaper to rerun a photo of Comet Ikeya-Seki “so that the children could see what a real comet looks like”. Late in life, he wanted to go further, but was too old to be able to handle a telescope, let alone have any night vision left. So I had to see this spectacle “for him”. Fortunately, I’ve had several opportunities, evening and morning.
Here are my photographs from the evening of January 22. Unavoidable circumstances meant that I was set up in inner Melbourne with my view of the Comet almost directly across the central business district. Technical merit – from OK to pretty iffy. Artistic ideas – sort of. Point for trying – yes, deserves a few.
[Some details:- Pentax KX tripod-mounted, either a Pentax 55/f1.8 or a 135/f3.5 lens, aperture fully open or shut down one stop, mirror locked up prior to exposures of up to 10 sec. Kodak EliteChrome 400ASA slide film. Images scanned from slides, some cropped, some manipulation in Photoshop and Irfanview.]
Photo A – Sunset over Melbourne
Photo B – Obligatory shot of Crescent Moon while waiting
Photo I – Flame on her candle is millions of km long! (lit with red light torch for last second of exposure)
Photo J – Go on, try to blow it out.
Photo K – I was there, even if I had to manipulate that part of the image to allow me to be seen – this time the red lighting from behind the camera was poor.
Photo L – Not aliens – me and friend, red lit by myself in the last seconds of exposure. To explain. The only place to set up was by a paddock with horses. I spent half the evening chasing them out of the field of view!!! When I posed for this shot, this horse insisted on being in shot and refused to move. So the dumb nag is immortalised on film.
looks like you guys had an 'excellent adventure' their the sort I like
glad ya had fun with the new camera Eric its not too late to turn back now!? hmmmm to late! your hooked now!
hmmmm to late! your hooked now!
But it looks more H-alpha than dark gas??? 
