Comet C/2007 F1 Leonos - 10th November

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all

These are my second comet images ever - my first were earlier this year with Comet McNaught.. and it was very hard to take a bad shot of Comet McNaught They were just camera on fixed tripod shots.

These were taken with the 350D through the ED80 + WO 0.8x reducer, tracking (inaccurately) on an EQ6. I rushed these images on the way to work tonight, and set up on the side of the road where I could see a good Western horizon. Consequently, my alignment was shocking and there was terrible trailing and field rotation with only 30s exposures.

But, I was able to salvage a few images. I'd like to try again in the coming days, after aligning properly and perhaps even guiding if I can find a good West view near 240v power!

Image 1: 10x 20s exposures @ ISO800
Image 2: Inverted image of the above, which shows the tail more clearly.
Image 3: 4x 35s exposures @ ISO1600
Image 4: Inverted image of the above, which shows the tail more clearly.

With this FOV, the tail measures about 1.5° long. The 2 bright stars in the top left are Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii. With a shorter focal length, darker skies and longer exposures, I imagine even more tail would've been visible.

Processing was not easy due to the gradients from twilight, as well as the noise from the short and low number of exposures.

But still, i'm fairly happy with it considering it was a last minute decision, knowing I had to work tonight and seeing a clear sky before I left.

Thanks for looking.

[RB (Andrew)]

LOL Mike I can just hear the chants from people driving by, "Aussie Aussie Aussie Oye Oye Oye "......

Excellent capture mate, well done indeed for such a quick setup.

[h0ughy (David)]

well done we got clouded over when it was up!!!

[tornado33]

Nice work there. I tried to see it from Newcastle but yes,early cloud killed it.
Scott

[rat156]

Great shots Mike.

I also tried last night, and before the clouds rolled in I got this.

Now, last night I was using the AO7 to guide (on one of those bright stars in your picture) so I could take longer shots. This essentially defeated the purpose (trying to get more tail) as the comet moves too quickly through the starfield. This blurs the tail, which can hardly be seen in my shots :-(

Next trick is to get lots of 30s exposures, guided.

Cheers
Stuart

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Way cool Mike. You took the opportunity and ya done good. The inverts look particularly effective

[IanL]

Great shots Mike well done. Terrible cloud cover here in Brisbane over the last 4 /5 weeks. Good to see you got it and gave us a look at what we are missing. Superb

Ian

[Lee]

Nicely done..... on the side of the road on the way to work no less! That's dedication - or desperation????

[davidpretorius]

nice comet!

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks guys. I think it was more desperation, Lee.. first clear night in about 10, and I had to work. So I just had to get this darn comet before it faded too much.

[Garyh]

Done very well Mike! the tail stands out nicely even with the short exposures
Great shots on the fly and on the side of the road even
cheers