Comet Lemmon with a beautiful tail (now with animation)

[SkyViking]

Hi All,

Here is my effort on Comet Lemmon form 28th January. This is my first proper comet image and I'm really happy with how it turned out - much better than I expected (I did make a simple comet image years ago of Tempel-1 but I will spare you that...:lol:)

Link to large version (1.2MB) (http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Solar-System/25329730_h9t78k#!i=2343094512&k=bDZ7Z42&lb=1&s=O)

Update 05/02/2013: I have now completed an animation of the comet's movement across the sky. This is using data I took on 27th January through a clear filter:
HD video is here (http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Solar-System/25329730_h9t78k#!i=2351804678&k=qKsk6BK)

Although not a naked-eye object the comet was easily visible in my 12x80 finderscope under a full Moon.
I also imaged this comet on 26th and 27th January and it became noticeably brighter during these three days alone. This image was made with the data from 28th January as it showed the faint tail best. Clearly visible are both the thin straight (split) gas tail and the more diffuse dust tail that is curving down towards the left below the gas tail.

The comet was moving quite rapidly against the background sky. I measured the movement to be roughly 5 arcseconds per minute. This causes a problem when stacking the data, because either the stars or the comet itself will appear trailed in the final image. To avoid this I had to combine four different stacks of the data. First I used SD Mask in Maxim DL to combine the luminance data aligned om the comet nucleus. This allows for an image of the comet alone and the stars are ignored due to their shifting positions from frame to frame. This was repeated for the RGB data. Then I did another stack aligned on the stars, both for L and RGB. So I ended up with an LRGB of the comet alone and an LRGB of the stars with a smudge from the trailed/blurred comet.
In short, I then combined these in Photoshop and selected the stars as a layer over the comet image in order to produce this final image where both the stars and the comet are aligned properly.

Image details:
Date: 28th January 2013
Exposure: LRGB: 59:6:6:6m, total 1hrs 17mins @ -26C
Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

Hope you enjoy it. It was really a very enjoyable learning experience for me to put this data together.

Regards,
Rolf

[pluto]

:eyepop:Nice work!

[rogerg]

Excellent photo! :thumbsup:

[Screwdriverone]

That's great Rolf,

Thanks for posting the information on how this was assembled, its a great reference for others who may want to reproduce this method.

80x20 finderscope? You sure that's correct? ;)

Cheers

Chris

[SkyViking]

Thank you very much Hugh and Roger :)



Thanks Chris, and oops I meant 12x80 finder :lol:
(It's this one: http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=168-14184)

[Larryp]

That's the best shot I have seen of this comet yet!:eyepop:

[h0ughy]

very nice result - awesome image

[Deeno]

Excellent result!

[RickS]

Great shot, Rolf!

[Liz]

Gorgeous image Rolf.!!!:thumbsup:

[EagleEyes]

Spectacular image Rolf! :eyepop:

[MortonH]

Gorgeous!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Solar]

What can you say other than PERFECT. :eyepop:

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Outstanding Rolf!

A lot of effort but worth it for good image like this.

Cheers,

Justin.

[stardust steve]

Fabulous image Rolf!
Well worth the time and effort.
I would love to get some tail detail.
:thumbsup:

[Johno]

That's a spectacular image Rolf. Great work.

[Paul Haese]

Fabulous work Rolf. Well worth the effort.

[colinmlegg]

Totally Gorgeous Rolf!!

[DavidNg]

I agree, best Lemmon's image so far.

[astronobob]

Top Class image Rolf ! ! !

[MrB]

Great shot!
As others have said, best shot I have seen so far.



Agreed.
Thanks for sharing the info Rolf. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

That's a stunner Rolf. One of the better comet images I have seen. The close in look makes it.

Greg.

[iceman]

Wow, that's so good! Thanks Rolf, beautiful!

[kinetic]

Wow indeed Rolf!!!
Master class!

Steve

[Forgey]

wow, stunning image Rolf, just beautiful.

[AstroJunk]

Sweet as. And interesting processing too - I hadn't realised that one could lose the stars using masking. Smart. A great way to make a composite image with these pesky moving things :)

[Matt Wastell]

That is an awesome image and the a great way to assemble it! 10/10!

[von Tom]

Beautiful! Very well done! :)

[Irish stargazer]

Beautiful :thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

:eyepop:Absolutely awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[allan gould]

A winning shot as others have stated and smartly processed. Well done

[atkinsonr]

Wow! Fantastic work.

[jjjnettie]

Amazing image!! The best I've seen.
APOD material that one. :)

[rustigsmed]

amazing!
well done, a lot of effort and it has paid off! great stuff!

[astroron]

Staggeringly beautiful:eyepop:
The high resolution image is fabulous
Thanks Rolf.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Ross G]

A beautiful comet photo Rolf.

What was the exposure length of each frame?

Ross.

[Sebbie]

Lovely colour and definition, superb work Rolf!

[Octane]

Magic, Rolf. Just magic. :)

H

[Osirisra]

Wow!, that is amazing, well done!!

[Suzy]

:scared2: :prey2: I'm speechless...
Easily the best image I've seen of it todate. Absolutely spectacular!

Ooooh I think this would make a great "Image of the Week".

[dvj]

What a great technique you have developed. Definately APOD material.

j

[ourkind]

APOD hands down!

[Astropleiades]

Hello, :)


This photo is wonderful! Congratulations! :thumbsup:


Astro-friendly,
Astropleiades

[Phil Hart]

Sublime. Lovely image.

[E_ri_k]

Wow, awesome job! Well done. Thanks for posting the info on how you combined your image. I was curious on how you did that.
Erik

[Tamtarn]

Absolutely outstanding!!

Barb

[Suzy]

Bring on the APOD! :thumbsup:

Rolf, I posted the high res. shot on the IceInSpace fb page around 2am this morning- by 9am this morning it had already hit 40 shares and 83 likes. Colin Legg has also shared it out on his facebook photography page & is being shared out from there too.
People are going crazy for it!

[LewisM]

DEFINITELY APOD!

Best comet image I have seen. Makes me want to try tonight (fingers crossed)

[SkyViking]

Thank you so much everyone for your encouraging words, it's much appreciated. I'm glad you all liked it, I was actually surprised myself by how well it turned out. This comet is moving behind trees for me soon so unfortunately I probably won't be able to image it when it is at its brightest in the next couple of months. Still this promising result has left me longing for PanSTARRS and ISON later in the year. Hopefully they will put on a good show! :D


Cheers Ross, I used 30 second subs. That was the maximum I could go with given the fast movement of the comet. I'm sure longer subs would have brought out even more tail detail. I actually took this binned 2x2 because I wanted to capture as much light as possible during the short exposures.


Thank you very much for your effort Suzy, that is awesome :)
I also had to do with around 4 hours of sleep for 3 days in a row to get the best possible data. And once I got the good data on 28th I stayed up late again because I just had to process it :lol:
Now the clouds seem to have rolled in here, at least for a couple of days. But it's looking promising for new Moon.

[Nico13]

Great stuff Rolf,
Yes I agree, what they all said + 1

Now if we were to send you our data maybe you could process it for us :P

[orestis]

Stunning Image Rolf ! :astron:

Cheers
Orestis:thumbsup:

[Littlestar]

Beautiful, love it :thumbsup:

[Kal]

beautiful, thats all that needs to be said!

[Jon]

This is one of my favourite images I've seen on the forum. Magic!

[JonathanGreen]

Congratulations on a fantastic image Rolf! love the colours :)

[asimov]

Incredible!

[gaa_ian]

Delightful Image Rolf, Hard to believe this is the same fuzzy blob I looked at tonight through the 16x60 Bino's !
Just had a look on Spaceweather.com, well done on your story and image up there Rolf :thumbsup:

[astronobob]

Epic Capture Rolf, That Tail has come up very fine in deed, like streamers within streamers coming off it! Exquisite Stuff ! !

[originaltrilogy]

How do you make you mount move at comet speed?

[bloodhound31]

Inspiring! I pray I get a clear dark sky in the next two weeks so I can get this one!

Beaut shot mate.

Baz.

[originaltrilogy]

Is that using sidereal rate?

[astronobob]

Top Class !

[SkyViking]

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate all your comments. :)
I have now completed an animation of the comet's movement across the sky. This is using data I took on 27th January through a clear filter:

HD video is here (http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/Astrophotography/Solar-System/25329730_h9t78k#!i=2351804678&k=qKsk6BK)


I didn't track the comet itself, instead the image was made by aligning all the frames on the comet nucleus to get a detailed image of the comet, and then doing another separate alignment on the stars. These two stacks are then combined.

[ourkind]

Cool video Rolf thanks for sharing and great technique too! Well done :thumbsup:

[gaa_ian]

Great animation Rolf. I took the time to check out your website. Looks great ! I particularly enjoyed your space art :)

[StephenM]

Lovely image Rolf, and a great animation! Really shows how fast the comet is moving.

Cheers,
Stephen

[jsmoraes]

Thanks for your clue to process with two images. One aligned by stars and other by comet. I worked with DSS and I was successful.
It seems to be better than the automatic processing (simultaneous alignment of stars and comet) done by DSS. :thumbsup:

Every day is day to learn something more !

[naskies]

That's amazing, Rolf! Still the favourite of all the Lemmon images I've seen posted so far.

[SkyViking]

Thank you Ian, and thanks for loooking :) It's been quite a while since I' did any space art, but I'd love to get back into it - if I could only find the time...


Thanks Stephen, I'm glad you liked the animation. I'm working on another animation at the moment (not of the comet though). Still not finished so I'll have ot wait and see how it turns out. :)


Thank you Jorge, good to hear you found it useful. It's always fun to try out new processing techniques.


Thank you Dave, I'm glad I was able to tease out the tail at such an early stage. Lately the comet has become a lot brighter and there are some really spectacular images around now, it's been great to follow everyone's endeavours so far.

[scopemankit]

An awesome image!

[multiweb]

Gorgeous close up Rolf. :thumbsup: I can appreciate the work in trying to figure out how to process that.

[elfinke]

Jaw dropping image. And the animation brought a big grin to my face too. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[strongmanmike]

Isn't this what it's all about..ahhhh yeh :thumbsup:

Great shot of a Lemmon Rolf, really vibrant and very cool :cool3:

Prediction...this will be a Solar System finalist in APOTY 2013 ;)

Mike

[Quark]

Beautiful, a spectacular image Rolf.

Cheers
Trevor