Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring and 47 Tucanae

[cometcatcher]

Not something you see everyday is it. ;)

[Amaranthus]

Nice work Kevin - a rare event, captured for posterity!

[Derek Klepp]

Thanks Kevin put me in a good frame of mind for the day .Had a last look myself yesterday .I was hoping you got this shot a great series all up over the past week or so.
Cheers

[glenc]

Magnificent image and event Kevin.

[h0ughy]

no its not, appreciate the view

[seeker372011]

Nice to at least see an image of the event; and a fine image it is too

[cometcatcher]

Thanks all. That's one reason why I like comets. No two look the same and they encounter interesting DSO's in their travels. I'll have to watch out for other encounters in the future.

[batema]

Hi. Beautiful image. Can you tell me how to process that as I have 32 images from last night and am sitting in front of DSS trying to work it out.

[PeterEde]

Awesome shot

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Peter!

Hi Mark, two median stacks are done in DSS, one for the stars, one for the comet and combined in Photoshop. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=1113403&postcount=9

For comet stacking, click on the first file, click on the comet icon on the right, register all the light frames then click on the comet for each frame. You may have to hold down the shift key to mark it if DSS doesn't find it.

[SimmoW]

Lovely image, what an interesting colour it is.

[kkara4]

Awesome image Kevin, I too will have to see when this will next occur. Did you find you had to track the comet separately to avoid the comet blurring or was the exposure time short enough to avoid this problem?

[gbeal]

Lovely shot, and no, not every day (or night).
If this weather ever clears, hopefully it is still about, but I suspect far far away from the "other" celestial objects of beauty.
Gary

[Octane]

Fantastic work, mate.

I'm still waiting on getting calibration frames before I process mine.

H

[Saturn%5]

That is pretty cool Kevin, Well done.:thumbsup:

[Retrograde]

Great shot Kevin - one for posterity!

[Draco]

awesome shot kevin. I was all prepared for a visual observation but then the clouds came marching in :(

Last night was clear so I tried using the RA and DEC from the nasa website to locate the comet, but alas I couldnt find it :(

Apart from it brushing past mars, is there any other familiar object it will be passing, so that I can observe it?

thank you

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Simon!



Thanks Kara. I guided on the stars using 1 minute subs. Any longer and the comet would have trailed. The comet itself was too faint to guide on.



Thanks Gary. It's not done yet. It passes near M6 on October 8 - 9 and Mars on October 19.



Looking forward to your image H. I'm sure it will be spectacular.



Thanks Graeme!



Thanks Pete. One for the album for sure.



Thanks Niv. Sorry about the clouds.

The comet passes close to M6 on October 8 - 9 and Mars on October 19 so more opportunities yet.

[RickS]

An lovely image capturing an unusual event. Well done, Kevin!

[Draco]

Thanks Kevin

Is there a webpage which shows where the comet will be each night?

Thank you

[mithrandir]

Draco, Cartes du Ceil will generate charts showing the path. All you need is a Linux, Windows or OSX box to run it on. http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start and of course it's free.

You can customize for your location. Here's one for mine, which would do for just about anyone south of 30 deg N since comets aren't that close to Earth, unlike Moon related stuff where it matters.

[cometcatcher]

I use Stellarium and load in solar system objects from MPC.

http://theskylive.com/ shows solar system objects online. I see they have reorganised their page with a top 10 comet list which is pretty neat.

Then there's Skyhound http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ a really good page with finder charts for comets brighter than mag15.

[Camelopardalis]

Wow Kevin, what a great shot :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Dunk, glad you like it.

[glenc]

Thanks Kevin

[Draco]

awesome. thanks andrew and kevin