Comet Lovejoy 30 Dec 14

[gregbradley]

I took over an hour of this comet. It actually looks best in a single 3 minute exposure after several attempts to stack the whole hour's worth.

Perhaps its because the comet is not moving that fast compared to last years comets.

CDK17 at F4.45, Proline 16803.

http://upload.pbase.com/image/158702749


Greg.

[grasshopper]

Love it Greg! :)

[nebulosity.]

Wow that's intense! Beautiful image :thumbsup:

That background galaxy really makes it special.

Jo

[Matt Wastell]

That looks fantastic - Thanks for the candy!

[gregbradley]

Thanks Tara!



The galaxy was a nice bonus.



Cheers Matt. Hopefully in a few days I can catch it again as the moon starts rising later and later.

Greg.

[cometcatcher]

Nice one Greg, with the galaxy too!

There's not much point in exposing really long with this comet, unless doing video. Tail details smear after 10 or so minutes, unlike dist tail comets that don't change for hours.

[h0ughy]

awesome shot

[gregbradley]

Dist tail? Yes a long exposure simply blurs the comet detail. I normally though take short exposures with a 2 minute gap between exposures then stack them using minimum combine which gets rid of the stars (it did but left some gradients). I then add that to the star image with the comet subtracted again by minimum combine (it didn't subtract it out very well).




Thanks David.

[dvj]

Spectacular shot Greg. You framed the galaxy perfectly in the tail! :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks John. Perfectly accidental though.

Greg.

[iceman]

Beautiful shot, Greg.

[gregbradley]

Cheers Mike.

Greg.

[cometcatcher]

Typo for dust tail. ;)

[gregbradley]

Aha! Thanks Kevin. I thought it was some technical word for comet tails!

Greg.

[astronobob]

Very spectacular Greg, dig tha Galaxy too, well done..

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, great shot too Greg :)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Bob.



Cheers Mike. I was surprised at how bright it was in the CDK.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Well captured Greg. I like the galaxy thrown in the mix too.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Paul. The galaxy was a bit of luck really.

Greg.

[rustigsmed]

lovely image Greg! looks quite good in mono!

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that. Yes it does look good in mono. Just as well as my filter wheel is not talking to my computer at the moment!

Greg.