Comet McNaught (2006/P1) - images

[fringe_dweller]

Glad ya finally got a better show Paul! there absolutle stunners! big pat on the back
:bowdown:

[[1ponders]]

Thanks Kearn, I've got a huge big smile on atm :lol:

[astro_south]

Kearn

I cropped that image a little, but it is easily over 20 degrees (assuming the 70 d fov) of the original. Just a shame the coma was behind the distant cloud bank, would have made a much better shot.

[middy]

Wow, what can I say. Got my first good look at the comet tonight. The clouds cleared away for a magnificent naked eye view. Again, I snapped some shots afocally with the Dob, but tonight I got a lot more.

Image 1:
20 x 1/3 sec, stacked in Registax. Stretched to highlight the tail and composite layers applied in Photoshop to fix the saturated head.

Image 2:
14 x 1.5 sec, same processing as Image 1.

Image 3:
5 x 24 sec, stacked in Registax. You can really see the long streaming tail in this one. Unfortunately the head had already sank into the clouds by the time I got set up for it.

[astro_south]

They came up well Andrew - particulalry the first close up one. Thanks for the use of your front lawn over the last week too mate - enjoyable to share it with another like minded soul :thumbsup:

[Grinz]

Graham's picture: I'm speechless! and Paul, yours are fantastic too.

This may or may not be the brightest and biggest comet in human history - but one thing is for sure, I bet it is by far the most photographed one already.

[Zac Pujic]

The weather in Brisbane cleared enough for me to get this image. It's a composite of 5 X 8 second exposures using a Canon Powershot S3.

Zac Pujic
Brisbane

[jjjnettie]

Nothing too flash compared to the other shots.

Here is a picture of a monster shaped cloud that ate the comet. Look carefully behind his back tooth. He'll need to floss that comet out.:lol: Got it on video too! Looks real cool with the comet going right into his mouth. I'll try to animate it and post it later. :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

ahh thankyou Andrew, I jumped the gun a bit there, I am guessing the fov as I was thinking it was equivalent to a 28mm lens in 35mm film in fov which about 70d?, its a 1.6x factor with the 400d so ..28 divided by 1.6 = 17.5? close to it i guess - how much is it cropped by in percentage?
cheers for the info btw :thumbsup:
hope you all have submitted to spaceweather btw! :) hope we dont overload their servers hehe :whistle:

[earthlight]

Here is my attempt of the comet. We've been trying to catch it for a few days now. Early on we really thought we wouldn't see it because of the clouds. We went up to the local airport for a low horizon. So with trucks rumbling past and light aircraft zoom over we waited.

As the kids just began to get board and a bit cold we started to see the comet appear out of the twlight. What a beautiful site!

We couldn't resist watching until we lost it to the haze on the horizon.

221482214922150

221512215222153

2215422155

What a great comet!

Just wish I changed the ISO to lower number, bit grainy but I got it! These image are just resized and framed.
___________________________________ ____
earthlight

[Garyh]

Hi again everyone,
Heres my small effort to the millions of images I reckon that have been taken of this comet..
That Graham Palmer shot is fantasic hey....:eyepop:
First one with my televue genesis...about 2 sec on iso 100 and the second wide angle shot with 135mm @f/4.5 .6sec iso 100...
Cloud bank down low so had to image before it got too low..
Cheers and happy comet spotting tonight!!
Gary

[rogerg]

Lots of nice shots. I like the cloud in front of several.. :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

:eyepop: you guys i cant keep scraping my jaw of the floor like this! i think it has blisters now!?

[centauri]

Well here are the best of whats on offer up here in NW Australia.
The clouds finally opened up but the dust and haze was still VERY bad.
Oh well, stuff happens!

[maksutover]

Hi all
ive been busy with work for some days but the images are AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!
Tell me is the comet much easier to spot now that its heading into darker skies? Is it worth using a telescope now???

Cheers. and keep up these phenomenal images!

[MrB]

Yeah it is much easier to spot. And the best bit, its setting later :D
It may be dimming in magnitude, but to my eyes its getting brighter. (relative, as it moves into darker skies).

[andrew]

Second contribution from me, although from the same batch of photos taken on Sunday night. Here (http://www.luke-hamilton.com/andrewf1/Pics/IMG_0621%28g%29-re.jpg) 327kb

Taken with 400D, without the scope. Looking to use the scope at the next opportunity we have down in Melbourne..

[DaveO]

These images have been fantastic.

I don't own a DSLR yet, but a colleague's partner (Garth Wimbush) snapped this image from Brisbane yesterday after the clouds finally cleared.

Garth used a Canon ESO 350D.

[CometGuy]

Very nice David, Garths photo it is very similiar to the naked eye view of the comet.

Terry

[dcnicholls]

http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1.htm

The definitive images from the man himself. Exquisite.

DN

[earthlight]

Wow such great images!

Here's my attempt tonight, clouds weren't so forgiving.

22190 22189

Taken 19:43, a 10 or so minutes after we lost it and we could still see the tail naked eye. I've really bumped this up to clearly show it. Just amazing. We were sitting under a street light!
22191

___________________________________ ______________________
earthlight

[Qakka]

G'day all,
Had a spectacular view of the comet this evening from Mudgee.
Tail was about 20 degrees long.
Attached image taken with GSTAR-EX camera, 8mm lens and RGB filters
Hope everyone got to see similar to this.
Cheers, Qakka

[beren]

Fantastic images everyone :thumbsup:

Gorgeous view of the comet tonight in the suburbs of Perth :) as the sky got darker the tail really stood out , wish my pics captured it better :doh:

[IanW]

3 more shots from Perth, This time taken from near the narrows looking towards Fremantle on Friday evening.

Wind was fair, at around 20kts.

Nikon D2X, 80-200/2.8 AFS Nikkor @ 80mm f2.8, ISO 800, exp times 2, 2.5 seconds. No adjustments made in PhotoShop except for slight cropping.

http://www.arach.net.au/~iwallis/2006P1/2006P1-4.jpg
http://www.arach.net.au/~iwallis/2006P1/2006P1-5.jpg
http://www.arach.net.au/~iwallis/2006P1/2006P1-6.jpg

Ian

[CoombellKid]

Hey folks,

Excellent images everybody.

Well not the best image on the block, But I finally manged to nab it in
it's full splender last night. Was thinking for a while there I was going
have to waiting until it turn back into a telescopic object.

I was an easy naked eye object, looked awesome through my 20x80's

The image is a cropped version of the original, no other processing

regards,CS

[Garyh]

Hi again everyone,
What a night here!!! Very clear and the first night with a cloud free horizon....:)
That dusty tail is going bigger every night. Left the telescope and just used the standard lense and my 135mm telephoto..
Both exposures about 15 sec iso 400. some levels and brightness/contrast in Ps. First with standard lense and the next with 135mm..
Might have to go to a wideangle lense if this comet gets more of a trail!!!
Wonder when we will see a ion trail?...fingers crossed for tonight....
Cheers Gary...:thumbsup:

[Grinz]

Gary, that is stupendous.

This comet and the pictures I see here have me running out of superlatives.

I don't have the skills or equipment to take the same kind of quality shot, but I'll add two that I took tonight here from Table Bay in Cape Town. VERY windy but clear evening. The coma shot was taken through the eyepiece of an 8" Meade SC with a simple Kodak CX7530; the other one with the same camera on a tripod - but the wind made things really difficult.

[Garyh]

thanks Grinz! hope that wind settles down for you..be hard to get good exposures in a gale..all I had to deal with were mozzies for company...
Cheers Gary

[rogerg]

Amazing stuff, this huge tail! I got it, but not as strong as some others due to light pollution.

http://www.rogergroom.com/rogergroom/esh_rog_item.jsp?Item=545

Heading off to dark skies tonight, might get some shots of the comet.

[Garyh]

With all that light pollution it still shows through...amazing!!
But isn`t it a lovely backdrop...all I have here is bush!!!!

[[1ponders]]

What else can be said? I think its all been said.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap ::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::cla p::clap::clap:

[Jimbo_Cymru]

G'day Guys,
Just joined the site after meeting Earthlight and her hubby last night near Calamvale :-)

Attached are 3 images all captured during breaks in the (damn) cloudcover. I'm popping out past Ipswich tonight, to try and get away from the light pollution.

Cheers
Jimbo
www.artofjimbo.com (http://www.artofjimbo.com)

[jjjnettie]

It's great to be able to come to this forum and share the experience with likeminded people.
I can't understand anyone who wouldn't be excited by this comet.

[acropolite]

:welcome: to Iceinspace Jimbo.

[CoombellKid]

Welcome to the group Jimbo_Cymru

regards,CS

[toc]

My excitement is turning into depression as I have simply not seen it yet...While Im happy for Melbourne to get the rain, it would have been better a few weeks ago, not now. :mad2:

[jjjnettie]

Commiserations to you Toc.
The frustration must be awful.

[Calin]

I share your pain, it's been clouded here (Canberra) every evening since Tuesday, I was unable to get out on Monday night to have a look, even the cows and 'roos in the nearby paddocks have seen it, it seems ! We have clear skies all day and the clouds roll up around 5:00pm only on the Western horizon and stay well past 10:00pm .... and bring no rain. Maybe the weekend will be different ... not according to the weather man though ...

My shots from the 19th ... same as 18, 17 and 16 ....... :lol:

Ahhh well, such is life, I'm enjoying the show vicariously

[asterix]

This was taken with a Canon 300D. Cropped and contrast and brightness altered in photoshop slightly.

[bloodhound31]

Calin,

Canberra huh? me too. I share your skies and your cloudy pain....

Baz.:D

[fringe_dweller]

if someone isnt even slightly impressed by the naked views of this comet, particularly from a clear dark sky site, they are either dead in their soul, or have very serious eyesight problems! :P

[dcnicholls]

ie blind, stupid or dead :)

Clouds finally look encouraging for Canberra tonight (fingers tightly crossed). Vello Tabur couldn't stand it and drove 500km north to Gilgandra yesterday. Really nice images:
http://members.tip.net.au/~vello/2006p1/2006p1.htm (http://members.tip.net.au/%7Evello/2006p1/2006p1.htm)

DN

[bobtuc47]

a big wow from a first time user to DN from Bob

[auroradude]

Wow! Worth the drive I'd say Vello! That last image at 1600ISO is hard to fathom. I can only try to imagine the sight first hand.
Still no sign of a gas tail. Is it too light still - or is it the orientation of the comet that it is not easily visible at this angle - or perhaps overwhelmed by what seems to be an incredibly dusty comet?
Keep 'em coming mates!

[thunderchildobs]

After trying for 7 nights the clouds finally cleared.
The photos were taken from the Denmark Hill Water Towers.

Brendan

[Dennis]

Hello,

My local astronomy club, the Brisbane Astronomical Society (BAS) held its annual BBQ tonight and it was my first real opportunity to photograph the comet. A couple of airplanes flew through the field.

It was a nice setting with a slender crescent Moon and the brilliant planet Venus also in the frame.

Cheers

Dennis

[blairhopkins]

Hi - I've been an avid follower of Ice for a few months now, but this is my first post. Like everybody else, Comet fever has struck, and I feel the need to share! This photo was taken tonight (8:20pm. Jan 20) from Seaforth in Sydney. Canon 350D, 75-300mm at 90mm, 10sec, f5.0, ISO800.

[Zander]

nice pic bliar :thumbsup:
great composition:)

[blairhopkins]

Thanks Zander - I was vying for a good viewing position on the edge of a cliff competing with a million mozzies - I'm not sure who won though... ;) but it was worth it, we won't see another like this for a while
Cheers
Blair

[bloodhound31]

:eyepop:AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!
:scared::stargaze::prey2::love::ast ron::party::party::jump2::jump2:
I went up to stromlo again tonite. set up in the usual spot. This time I had no idea where to look cos i thought it might have moved a bit in 3 nights. Got all ready by about 10 pas t 8. Waiting....waiting....was about to give up when i thought, i bet its behind the trees.

So, I moved up the very top of stromlo next to the laser sattelite tracking facility. by the time i got there, I turned around to view the horizon and......OMG!!!!!!!!:eyepop:There it was! Gotta be the highlight of my entire astronomy life! I know I cant swear here but man....some serious expletives are what is needed here to enunciate the high I'm on from seing this thing. I had no idea a comet would be or could be so beautiful and so huge!!!! Took a couple of rolls of film. Didnt know whether to sand like a dumb turd and stare naked eye, look thru the scope eyepiece, finder scope or the 2 cameras i had rolling!!!


WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished now.


Baz:D

[Terry B]

Dear All
I have been impressed with the images of the comet posted here.
I took this image tonight from my bottom paddock with a simple Kodak cx7525 digital camera. It is a 4 sec exposure on a tripod. I have also taken some frames with a pentax645 but will have to wait for developing. They will hopefully include venus and the thin moon.

[middy]

The sky was crystal clear tonight in Brisbane (where I live anyway). Not a cloud in sight. Tonight I thought I'd try some wider shots with tracking using the StarTracker rather than through the telescope. Here is tonight's effort. All stacking and processing done with Registax.

Image 2 shows the huge extent of the tail. This sequence of shots was taken 15 minutes after the head had disappeared from view. The large glow at the bottom right is from the Woolworth's distribution centre about 5 km away (Grrrr).

[Jimbo_Cymru]

G'day Guys,
After last night's cloud-obscured effort in Calamvale (near Brisbane), I decided to head west and drove out past Ipswich. I hiked for 20 minutes through some pretty rough scrub only to round a corner and discover a huge cleared area, leading up to a very promising slope. After climbing to the top, I waited for McNaught to put in an appearance, and boy oh boy it was worth the effort.

I hope that the rest of you also had a great experience tonight (esp the Canberrans). It's great to be part of something like this and it's a fantastic community you've got here - glad to have joined :-)

BTW: I added an image of Venus and the 'thin' Moon for Terry B. Looking forward to seeing your piccies after they're developed.

Cheers
Jimbo
www.artofjimbo.com (http://www.artofjimbo.com)

[ballaratdragons]

Andrew,

Thanks for the 3rd pic, it gives me a reference for finding the comet :thumbsup:

What the hell do Woolies need all that light for at a distribution centre??? Are they distributing to the Moon now? That's ridiculous!

[ferozious]

Thought I'd show a couple of images from my session tonight on the Gold Coast. Wasn't the sight of such a thin crescent Moon great! And the naked eye view of the comet and its magnificent tail, fantastic!!
Equipment is Pentax K100D with 70-300mm lense at F4 and various speeds and exposure times.
Cheers,
Steve

[PhotonCollector]

Hi all,

I'm not long back from the IISAC at Lostock. Have many images of "The Comet".

Couldn't got to sleep without processing a least one set of images - so here's a preview of how the comet looks from Lostock.

This image stack of three images from a Canon DSLR tripod mounted. The tail is easily more than 15 degrees long.

[earthlight]

We went up to Whites Hill Recreation Reserve tonight for the clubs annual January gathering. Thankfully this year there wasn't the usual thunder storm or solid cloud.

We we're treated with crystal clear skies and being able to see to within 2deg of the horizon I was happy :D.

Here's the best shot so far of the comet, with so many great one one is enough. Plus the moon and Venus looking lovely in the sunset.

22257222582225922260

Dennis I LOVE your shot!! I was tempted to use the wider lens but not that way. What a great shot!!!!
_______________________________
earthlight

[mickoking]

I have just come in from imaging the comet with my humble digital camera. I will post some pics tomorrow :thumbsup:

[Pete59]

hi,isn't this comet awsome.easy take photos of,mine was taken with a digital camera.the display it gives at night is fantastic.from here in texas,queensland ithe tail is like a large fountain spraying water.




http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=22264&stc=1&d=1169298937

[loomberah]

Finally an almost clear night for me ;) I've posted 3 more pics from tonight here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

Gordon

[asterix]

Another great show tonight. Unfortunately I get some light pollution to the SW.

[MrB]

I had a go tonight with a crappy old 2MP Canon Powershot A40.

Last night I could swear I could see the tail wrap right back down to the horizon naked eye. My mum came and had a look with me and said she could too.
I have no light polution between me and the comet, just the Indian Ocean, so I decided to try and catch this, and I think I have.

The photo is a stack of four rediculously grainy shots @ 400 asa (not really grain... noise) from a very dodgy camera, and then levels and gamma adjusted, all done in Photoshop. This is the first time I've ever processed an image or stacked so..... eh.
The stacking helped reduce the grain massively, even so it was still very grainy so the image is shown pretty small to make it kinda smooth out a little :D
Wasn't trying to get a high res shot, just bring out the extent of the tail.

Edit: to give an idea of how $*#& this camera is, added one of the 4 noisy images HERE (http://members.westnet.com.au/foo2/noise.jpg), LOL

Damn loomberah! Wish I had your gear!

[beren]

Ventured down to a nearby beach tonight and took some pics, little bit windy and a hazy horizon present ....quite a few people out looking at the comet :)

[Tamtarn]

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS GORDON !!!!!! :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:

:bowdown:

[firstlight]

I was with the BAS at Whites Hill yesterday evening and used the clubs scope and astrovid to try to capture the comet. I'm not real sure of the details of what I did, but its roughly:-

2a.jpg - 50 frames stacked in Registax 4, from astrovid and 200mm LX200 f/10, 6 frame accumulation (I think thats how you would describe it), captured to Medion PMP. Stretched, Contrast bumped and brightness dropped in Registax.

3a.jpg - 100 or so frames stacked in Registax 4 from astrovid and 200mm LX200 f/10, 4 frame accumulation, captured to Medion PMP. Stretched, Contrast bumped and brightness dropped in Registax.

6a.jpg - 150 or so frames stacked in Registax 4, from astrovid and 200mm LX200 f/6 ,4 frame accumulation, captured to Medion PMP. Stretched relentlessly, Contrast bumped and brightness dropped in Registax

Interestion to note how the way the tail seems to be divided. I noticed it in binoculars on Thursday, and I'm glad the astrovid seems to have captured it as well.

Tony

BTW Welcome Jimbo, glad you could join after we met on the ridge near Algester. I looked up google earth and the lights straight down the road we were on was probably Forest Lake... Swanbank is further on in that direction.

[Dennis]

Hi

Here are another couple of wide fields of C 2006/P1 McNaught with a setting crescent Moon and Venus. Taken at 7:30pm from Whites Hill Reserve, Brisbane. Here is an inventory of stuff according to Starry Night Pro:

Sun: -9° 35’ altitude
Moon: +2°47’ altitude
Venus: +5° 50’ altitude. Mag -3.92
C 2006 P1: +5° 54’ altitude. Mag +1.01

Pentax *ist DS 18-50mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens.
Imaged at 39mm, F8, 6 secs at 200ASA.

Cheers

Dennis

PS - Great comet images Earth & First Light - we had a ball at the BAS BBQ last night, in spite of the car park lights! Loved your 400D Anne-Louise.

[Deeno]

These are some pics from the hill at Lostock. Check out that tail!

Nikon 200, 80-200 Nikon ED lens with Kenko 2xtele-converter.
All shots at 100 ISO. Shutter speed ranging from 3sec to 30sec. F2.8 to F8.

[ian musgrave]

These images are fantastic. Congratulations on some great efforts folks. I haven't seen the comet since Wednesday, due to cloud and rain, although I did get to see the tail poking up from behind the cloud last night. Here is a shot taken way back on Wednesday, and an animation I made is here
http://home.mira.net/%7Ereynella1/astronomy/McNaught_anim_17-01-07.gif
(4 Mb file, dialup unfriendly)

[Astroman]

cool animation Ian, lots happening...

[glenc]

Great Images Gordon. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Hi all
Some preliminary processed images form Lostock. All I can say is WOW what a comet! the rest of the nights viewing didnt seem as exciting after this comet lol though skies were great all weekend.
Full size

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/uploads/lostock7x8seciso40050mmf1%208%20090 20pmjan19.jpg

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/uploads/lostock6x8seciso400%20f1%208%2010%2 01pm21jan07processed.jpg

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/uploads/lostock3x8seciso40050mmf1%208%20090 21pmjan19.jpg

All taken untracked with unmodded 300D

PS, one more the deepest Ive taken of the massave "fantail"
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/uploads/lostock12x13seciso400f1%208%209%203 3pm%2019jan07processedmedian.jpg
Scott

[jjjnettie]

AstroRon said it best when he compared this comet to the waterjet on Lake Burleigh Griffith on a really windy day.
The comet of the century.

Have you noticed the twist forming in the tail, close to the nucleus?

[tornado33]

Yes the twist reminded me of braids in a thick piece of rope. Absolutely incredible.
heres another pic from Lostock taken on Saturday night, subtle changes of colour in the striations in the fantail.
Scott

[Orion]

Great wasn't it, I can't believe what a fantastic time we had.
I knew you wanted to leave early to post some pics of the comet!:rofl:

Can you email me full res of one and two? Thanks Scott.

PS: lets see what Houghy comes up with!:P

[HOOT]

The photo's on here are stunning particularly Gordons, I have been laying in wait for days here in Palmwoods but the clouds have been prevalent every night so I went up camping on to the range nearby and was gobsmacked at the show nature was putting on.
My photo does it no justice but here it is:-

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9729/p10009892lu.jpg

I was like a kid at Christmas as the whispy tail lasted well into the evening.

[Qakka]

Pleased to see lots of excellent images on the forum, well done to everyone.

We had another nice night at Mudgee.

Tail extending to nearly 40 degrees!!

I've attached a couple more GSTAR images.

8mm F/0.8 lens. 5 secs each of LRGB channels

Cheers, Qakka

[matt]

Very nice, Steve.

The "fanning" tail was visible in Canberra well after sunset.

Very cool

[Calin]

My modest attempt, single image 20 sec, ISO 800, F5.6 with Canon 400D on tripod. Great views from Canberra, mcnificent and mcnice was well worth the wait for clear skies ... guess all the media hype hasn't dissappointed those with mchigh expectations of seeing something mcspecial ... I think we have something on the mcbrain .... :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Excellent images everyone.. Nights 1 & 2 photos are on the external HD and night 3 are still on the camera :)

Will post mine when I get a chance to go through them. I'm sure the gallery on spaceweather is filling up fast!

[meade expert]

Hi All

Well Comet McNaught put on a show over Nowra NSW last night.
Taken with Nikon D70 ISO 1600 18mm ED lens 20sec.:eyepop:

[fringe_dweller]

seeing i am amongst only a handful? of people that imaged p1 from adelaide last night (sat), i will post my crappy 'evidence shots' :P
betwen gaps in the cloud grabbed a couple after soaking in the imposing views, later on the clouds gave us plenty of looks at sheer enormity of the beast - and by the time we left at 10:30 pm the glowing light dome of p1's northern tail section reached at least 40d high and about 50d to the north
This isnt the 'prettiest' naked eye great comet i have seen - hyakutake in the midnight sky still gets that description, altho photgraphically it is pretty looking at he multitude of awesome images on the net. It reminded me of a horror movie where the pulsating glowing blob just gets bigger and bigger as it got darker hehe

gale/storm affected shots

http://southern-x.org/so_x/p1/p1sat20th_0734.jpg

http://southern-x.org/so_x/p1/p1sat20thglow.jpg

50mm lens uncropped

seeing i have seen very aptly used comparisions to auroral glows as a description of the humungous ill defined tail - i think the aurorae observation expression 'picket fence' describes the naked eye banding very well

[iceman]

Here's my first McNaught from Lostock on the Thursday night.
Will go through the others (that get better) later today..

[CoombellKid]

Two shots from North Casino's bushwalk astronomy group. Taken 20/01/07
using a Canon powershot A85 15 sec exposures ISO 400

regards,CS

[mickoking]

Heres a coupla shots I obtained from the roof of my house using a Kodak DX7590. 20jan07

[astro_south]

Some more from the North Casino bushwalk group. The naked eye view just kept us captivated for quite some time. The streamers were quite evident looking like some sort of aurora well after the comet had set.

[rogerg]

I was at a darker location last night and of course took some photo's of the comet. This is a longer (90 sec) unguided exposure. I wanted to capture the full extent of the tail, realising it would mean trailing.

http://www.rogergroom.com/rogergroom/esh_rog_item.jsp?Item=546

It's not the most picturesque shot from the night, but does show the tail nice and bright.

[sheeny]

Here's a couple of humble shots from Lostock. The Oly is not the best camera for the job - very noisy at high iso/long exposure - but one does one's best.:)

BTW awesome photos guys!

Al.

[RB]

Here's one of the one's I took from Lostock.
This comets tail is amazing !
Here you see the head has already set but the tail is still majestically sailing through the evening sky.

Great photos everyone, it'll take me a while to catch up on all the posts I missed while away at Lostock.

[RB]

.....and another from Lostock using 600mm F.L.
This was taken from one mountain top and the trees you see in the foreground are on the other mountain top across the valley.

[HOOT]

Another top show on the Sunshine coast tonight although cloud did hang around a bit, still good viewing but not as bright as the previous night.

[[1ponders]]

Nice one HOOT. I went looking for a good shootin' spot tonight and got clouded out (up on the range). Where were you, ya lucky bugger. :clap:

[The Unbeliever]

Hi All,

Thought I would share a couple of my happy snaps at Lostock. I enjoyed watching the comet and hearing the excitement from the accompanying amateur astronomers.

Excellent event Mike and the venue was sensational.
:D
223762237722378223792238022381

[HOOT]

Hi [1ponders], we went on the south west escarpment near 'Bald Knob' on the way to Landsborough it was quite busy, got a nice shot of the Glasshouse Mountains by the way :)

[Astroman]

A couple of shots from here, cloud moved in and spoiled it a bit.

[gaa_ian]

Had to add one or two of my shots from Lostock, had such a great time viewing the comet there :D

[RB]

Here's a wide field shot of the comet, the crescent moon and Venus from Lostock.

[[1ponders]]

Cheers, thanks HOOT.

[dcnicholls]

It's most likely camera shake and trailing of the object across the sensor. John Bortle made the comment on the comets-ml list a few days ago that you would not normally expect nucleus splitting to be seen in camera-based images before it was observed telescopically and with much larger instruments.

DN

[fringe_dweller]

heres one from tonight overlooking adelaide suburbs at a quickie viewing spot - didnt thunk it was gonna clear that well this evening!! definately need dark skies now eh! but those clouds and LP reflecting ruined them a bit - amazing week of weather coming for us this week? mebbe?
RB I absolutely luurve that widefield with moon, venus, what a fantastic shot! hard to pick a nice one out this lot tho

50mm lens - 4 sec exp

[jjjnettie]

Only a very tiny smear of cloud on the horizon in Kilcoy.
Got another new observing spot only walking distance from home. Excellent position on the top of the hill. I'm set for the next few days until a house will interfere with the view. But if need be, the owners said I can set up in their back paddock.

[Vol]

I was really glad that the clouds cleared over Canberra long enough tonight for me to see the comet. It's definitely the best one I have ever seen that's for sure!

I took a bunch of photos tonight, with my Panasonic DMC-TZ1 camera. I don't have a tripod for it (yet) but the handrail on the veranda did a good job. These aren't as impressive as the other ones posted here, but I thought I'd share anyway :)

[fringe_dweller]

another from tonight that strongly reminds of the naked eye view we had of p1 in the twilight this evening - she's coming south! a true southerner now :)

[RB]

Awesome shots everyone.
Fringy great shots giving a sense of scale to this magnificent comet !
Vol welcome to the forum and very nice photos too !

[Vol]

Thank you for the welcome :)

I'm hoping to get some more tomorrow night :) Last night it had the most amazing tail, but unfortunately I didn't get out soon enough to get any good pics.

[auroradude]

These are some great shots that are being posted but I was curious - does anybody still use film?
Thanks.

[[1ponders]]

Astroron took some film shots on Saturday night. Hopefully he can ge them developed this week.

[erick]

I've shot film - 400ASA slide - so far I have sunsets, cloud, smoke, ocean, boats on the horizon, planes flying under the sun and seagulls! And groups of people looking sadly into the distance.

If the clouds clear, I'll load another slide film for tonight.

[ving]

got my 4th lookat the comet... its been interesting watching it change. :)
this shot was taken with a bunch of others on saturday 20th. exif data should be avaliable if you want it...
I also took my slr (film) up but havent got the pics back yet. I dont know if they are gunna be over exposed of not. I'll find out at lunch i guess :)
they were take with a eos3000n / 200mm @ f/5.6 and a mixture of 10 to 30 sec exposures. I also got the moon in... should be interesting to say the least.

anyhow heres my lil' nikons shot...

[Phil]

Took this last night it is getting harder to see.
Phil:thumbsup:

[chrissara]

You bunch of lucky so and so's!!!

Up here in Mackay we are lucky if we even catch a glimpse of it. Cloud cover in the last two weeks combined with the glare of the sun at sunset make this comet so damn difficult to see compared to the southern parts of Australia.

[TCK]

Nice shots of McNaughts from Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane last night...

[Kal]

Here is my effort from Lostock. I wasn't planning on doing any astrophotography during the weekend but the comet inspired me to see what I could do with my compact 'point and shoot' digital camera (and it's 7mm lens!) using the chair and a 2 second timer shot instead of a tripod (which I didn't have either).

[matt]

Here's my meagre effort at capturing this fantastic object:)

Olympus C7070 8 megapixel digicam.

Set to 5 seconds (I think) exposure at f6.3 and ISO 400.

Didn't really know what to expect as I've never tried to capture long exposures with the cam.

At least I captured something.

Will have another go tonight if weather permits.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I shot some in 200 ASA colour on Saturdday night, will try and finish the spool in the next night or so. Then we go see what the prints say...

I love film.....:D it's the purest form of photography.... no cheats, tweaks etc... the reall photon deal..:thumbsup:

Tony

[Grinz]

Beautiful pictures, Phil, Matt, Andrew & TCK!
Looking forward to those you took on film, Ving & Ziggy.

[bloodhound31]

My only half decent shot out of a full roll. Saturday night from Mount Stromlo.

Baz:D

[auroradude]

Thanks for the replies. Glad to hear that I am not the only dinosaur shooting film still. I'll look forward to more images and I might even post some of my own from aound the 8th - as soon as I get some chromes processed.

[mickoking]

Bit of cloud in Perth last night, but still managed to image the comet.

[bloodhound31]

Can someone please answer my post in the observational astronomy threads on film cameras? I need to know very soon before I go out for the comet again tonight.

Baz:help:

[mickoking]

I might give Film a go tonight :thumbsup:

[Orion]

I like the close up Andrew...(baldy)...;)

[MrB]

Yep. I've been giving it a nudge the last week or so. Shot and developed 3 rolls so far. B+W only(not sure what slidefilm is available/any good these days)
Most are crap, but shots taken on Sat. night aren't bad.
Most of my drama's have been getting the right exposure times, so mostly bracketing with different films.
Those on Sat. were shot on Delta 100 pro(still crying for the loss of TechPan) and are pretty good except for some trailing.
I was gonna have a go last night with Delta 400 Pro and a barndoor/scotch mount/tracker, but cloud didn't help.
Will have a go tonight weather permitting(I can see cloud :( )

Can anyone in Perth with a neg. scanner help me please?
Would like to get these neg's scanned if possible.

[MortonH]

Hi everyone, here's my most detailed shot from Saturday, taken on the shore of Lake Macquarie. Can't believe how much it looks like an aurora!

Morton

[mickoking]

Neat shot Morton, My comet pics only hint at that detail in the tail.

[MortonH]

Micko

Do you have an image editing program like Photoshop? Everyone needs to play about with brightness and contrast to get the most detail.

Morton

[Chung]

Heya!

I am no astrologist but the wonders of space has always fascinated me as a child. After reading about McNaught's online, I tried spotting on the 18th in "Sunny Port Melbourne" but the weather was appalling. Tonight, the 22nd of Jan., at 2125... after 2 hours sitting at the end of the pier, I saw it. As the sun went down, the tail was longer and longer and had a wonderful curve!!! The last 4 days' weather definitely made it impossible but tonight was amazing. I am contemplating joining an Astronomy Club. I have taken pictures, but using my camera phone and it appears ad a faint speck. I'll be going back tomorrow armed with binoculars and a camera.

Cheers,
Chung

[acropolite]

Here's tonights effort, I expected a big improvement over last night but in reality my effort wasn't much better. The lengthy twilight here seems to wash out the detail early in the evening and by the time it's really dark I have run out of sensitivity. My final shots were taken at 15 seconds @ f2.8 Iso 400 and were still at least a couple of stops underexposed.

[blueskies123_89]

Hey,

Melbourne's weather has finally cleared... hopefully it will remain like that for a few days.

I took my camera out tonight and WOW, the last time I saw the comet was on Jan16, and man it has grown! I've attached some pics i took tonight

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieland/365796496/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieland/365792251/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieland/365787771/

Thanks

[Vol]

It was clear over Canberra all day, until it was show time and a big cloud rolled in so it only allowed me to have a brief glimpse of the comet. This is the best picture I could get, it was still a bit light, but better than nothing! I'll try again tomorrow.

[earthlight]

Well Tony's gone clear sky hunting but I saw the comet out our window for 15 minutes. So staying home wasn't a complete loss.

22529

Bit of movement but the old Ixus did well.

__________________________________
earthlight

[spacezebra]

Hi all

I'm just as shocked as you all are - The Unbeliever (aka David Chandler) has made it to Space Weather.:eyepop:


http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_mcnaught_page14.htm


Cheers Petra

[h0ughy]

well he has no reputation now does he!!!:thumbsup: :whistle: he cant live that down. No more excuses Dave...............

[h0ughy]

BTW here are my poultry efforts. I am eclipsed by the quality of images presented thus far. in some way my camera was affected by the heat at lostock , and I forgot to take darks and flats etc.... pay the price for the "cheap" thrill of getting the images. Mate what a sight.

Taken with a box brownie on three sticks held together with chewie, and focussed with a kellogs plastic magnifyer. Oh ok it was with a canon 350D, severely heat stressed:whistle:

[RB]

:clap: :cheers:

Good onya David

[andrew]

What a great night's viewing here in Melbourne, brilliant views of the comet up until 11:15pm. Took over 200 images tonight, one is here (http://www.luke-hamilton.com/andrewf1/Pics/IMG_0899%28g%29_f-re.jpg) 280kb, I'm very happy :)

[RB]

Poultry??? !!!!
They're great photos Dave.
Well done.

[centauri]

Atmosphere up here in the NW still crap and 40 degrees C +
So here is my last attempt at this beasty.:sadeyes:

[spacezebra]

All excellent images one and all, im totally amazed .

Houghy - you too have made it to Space Weather - looks like David has linked space weather to his images from IISAC. Which includes you (you famous man you!!;))

Cheers Petra

[bloodhound31]

Paltry.

Baz:D

[RB]

:lol:
Dave and I are just teasing each other Baz.
He thinks I'm turning into a chicken.

[rat156]

Hi All,

Here's some of my shots from tonight.

http://tinyurl.com/3bvn93

http://tinyurl.com/2fb7qj

and

http://tinyurl.com/ysxfs8

Share and enjoy

Cheers
Stuart

[Ric]

Great images Houghy, those plastic magnifyers really work a treat.

Cheers

[h0ughy]

Thats right andrew, you shaved your head to get more light gathering ability for the tail.....................
the bad news is we will be socked in by cloudy aftrernoon for the rest of the week, so keep snapping peoples....

[xstream]

Here's my feeble effort from Saturday night at Lostock.

I hope you enjoy them.

[iceman]

Great images John, h0ughy and everyone else. Hopefully i'll get time to go through more of mine today (i'm back at work :P ;))

[Phil]

shot this the moon ,venus and comet McNaught in the far background
Phil

[RB]

Wow guys & gals, fantastic images by everyone.
It's impossible to reply to each and every one but I really enjoy viewing all of them.

:2thumbs: :clap:

[acropolite]

Went through last nights efforts, this one's not briliant but I've Mccaught McNaught together with a pass of the ISS at around 10:09PM Imagine the views from up there.

22 Jan Mag 1.1 Starts 22:07:51 Alt 10 Az SW Max 22:10:27 Alt 25 Az SSE Ends 22:12:13 Alt 15 Az ESE

[Phil]

this has been posted before but been reprocessed.
Phil

[RB]

Great capture Phil !
I wonder if we'll see any photos of the comet from ISS.
I know we have heaps from IIS........;)

[gaa_ian]

That would be a good one for spaceweather Phil !

[MortonH]

If the comet had been just a month earlier, I suspect all our friends and families would have been getting Comet McNaught calendars and posters for Christmas!

Phil, your shot is gorgeous. It takes the spectacle to a new level when the head gets so low that it turns red.

Morton

[mojo]

My contribution to McNaught. I'm only posting it, so that years from now I can prove to myself that I actually (and finally) did see it :eyepop:
What a great sight it was!

[Benny L]

Hi all, here are mine and my dad's efforts from last night.

http://www.castfvg.it/luna/fasi/luna03g_02.jpg

Eos 1Ds Mkii, 400mm f2.8L IS, 2x TC, ISO 3200, 1/4 sec @ f5.6

http://www.castfvg.it/comete/mcnaught/06p1_levis_004.jpg

Eos 1Ds Mkii, 50mm f1.2L, ISO 1600, 10 sec @ f3.5

[Icebreaker]

Another attempt of the comet after a few miserable days in Adelaide. The view of the comet was just stunning.

Pentax K10d 30s, f/3,2 ISO400

I absolutely enjoy seeing so many fantastic pictures of the comet on this forum!

[gaa_ian]

Hi Icebreaker, welcome to the forum !
That is a great shot, especially with someone in the foreground (is that you ?)
You can almost hear the thoughts "OMG this is awesome!"
Thanks for posting it.

[Phil]

thank for the replys i have sent it to space weather.
Phil

[Ric]

Great picture Icebreaker, I agree with Ian the person in the foreground is a really nice touch and adds another dimension to the comet.

Welcome to the group as well

Cheers

[notch]

My sentiments to Chrissara.

Being stuck up in North East Arnhem Land enduring the current wet season and constant cloud cover, there is almost no chance of seeing comet McNaught.
It's definetly McNaught!
Our finacially flushed club president made his way to the astrocamp on his own and didn't even bring me back a T shirt.:(

P.S. Thanks for all the photo's

[zipdrive]

Here are some of mine..

http://members.westnet.com.au/dahn/astro/img/gallery/comet/1-mcnaught2006_p1.jpg

http://members.westnet.com.au/dahn/astro/img/gallery/comet/3-McNaught-1024.jpg

http://members.westnet.com.au/dahn/astro/img/gallery/comet/4-McNaught.jpg

http://members.westnet.com.au/dahn/astro/img/gallery/comet/5-McNaught.jpg

the 1st one is from my house rooftop
the others are from near yanchep area in WA.

[iceman]

Incredible images Dave! Nice work.

[mickoking]

There was a bit of Horizon cloud again last night but I managed a few images from my roof. Looks like it will be nice and clear tonight, I would be mad not to make the most of it before the waxing Moon becomes a problem.

[bloodhound31]

I was up on Stromlo last night mate. Where were you. I didnt even get a shot off! The cloud didnt roll in..it just magically appeared right on showtime in a 20 minute window of clear sky to solid blanket.:mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2:

Going up again tonight...

Baz:D

Barry's Home-made Observatory

http://members.iinet.net.au/~armstead

[janoskiss]

Here's one from Lang Lang beach, VIC, 22 Jan, about 10pm. F30 compact digital. 15 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800. Most of the tail you see in the photo was naked eye visible. :eyepop:

[acropolite]

That's a fine image from a compact Steve :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

what an amazingly photogenic comet!! :) we finally had a decent bit of weather and I had my first long clear view at a dark sky site - looked like a story book steam train/puffing billy smoke plume as it chuffed off south over the horizon -WOW

single unprocessed/uncropped image 4 sec exp iso 1600 from jpeg

http://southern-x.org/so_x/p1/p122nd_0850s.jpg

I have a nice collection of 10 sec raws @ iso 400 i can make a mosiac of the whole tail from eventually! and some film shots to come hopefully also, really needed to take darks, :doh:

it is fading unbelievably fast

my second 'sodium comet' after v1 (that did have a blue ion tail tho), read a lot about 'sodium comets' (some disparaging - have heard them called 'dirty') in the past, now ive seen a great one!

[Paul Shallow]

Comet McNaught on the 20th January from Mt White. Who would have ever thought that it would be necessary to use a wideangle 28mm lens to capture the WHOLE tail of this comet. Most of the earlier images all used digital or telephoto shots. This wideangle shot resulted by fault as I was doing a panoramic image of the Hawkesbury river 600' below Mt White, 40kms north of Sydney city. ItF I had only known what lay hidden from naked sight Then would have got out old faithful best lens, 135mm, for a series of shots going northwards to assemble a collage. I Have one Pic, clear as anything, but just the top of the tail with no head of the Comet. anyhow here is the image on the 28mm wideangle.my " Heavenly Finger"
Sorry the image will not upload, try www.nsas.org.au media

[erick]

22 January, 2007 - The first day Comet McNaught (2006/P1) was able to be observed by the masses in Melbourne. They were not disappointed! :)

(rushed scan of a slide - no time to clean up, remove dust, crop, enhance etc - later :P )

[Phil Hart]

hi folks,

Like many others in Melbourne, I was worried that our first good clear skies in Melbourne would find the comet having faded past its best, but it's still doing fine!

These photos from Mt Macedon last night (Monday 22nd January):

http://www.philhart.com/gallery/CometMcNaught/CometMcNaught_18mm?full=1

http://www.philhart.com/gallery/CometMcNaught/CometMcNaught_50mm?full=1

http://www.philhart.com/gallery/CometMcNaught/Comet_McNaught_200mm

cheers
Phil.

[iceman]

Excellent images.. such a great photographic comet.. even point and shoot cameras capture the essence of it well.

[jjjnettie]

Saturday evening, Cambroon. Well up the road a bit anyway. 15 seconds at
f3.2 ISO 800. Oh the grain!
Can't wait to see Astroron's effort.

[Diamond Rose]

Hi,

These pics are breath-taking!

I met Andrew (sorry, don't know your username) last night at Kariong, and he told me about this site.

My own photos don't come close to the others. My knowledge of astrophotography, and photography in general is nonexistent. But, I want to join the fun. This was taken at Kariong on Saturday night. I used 100 speed film on my Nikon F75. I hope I'm attaching this image the correct way.
~ Bruce

[gregl456]

McNaught by McNaught
My sincere apologies if someone else has posted this link in another thread (so many search terms, so many thread), but the Man has posted his own recent images here:
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1new.htm (http://msowww.anu.edu.au/%7Ermn/C2006P1new.htm)

No info about hardware apart from the 5D, but it looks like a nice job of guiding on a non-observatory platform. My own paltry (not poultry!) unguided effort with the D70 yielded startrails even at 10 sec :(

And profound thanks for 2006/P1, Rob...

[WadeH]

I have just loved this week with all the chatter and the excellant pictures from everyone. I am looking forward to life getting back to normal though, whatever that is?
Here are my two best shots from Saturday night. They are very grainy and lots of flecks but my gear is old and the lens's are getting hard to clean.
Details are as follows: Nikon FG SLR with 200ASA film, 55mm lens at f1.8 and 10 seconds. Settings are for both pictures and they are untouched.
Location was Wandena rd Muchea which is on the Darling Escarpment about 50km north of Perth. Fantastic viewing west over the Swan Coastal Plain.
By the way, this comet is my very first attempt at photographing this kind of event and I'm quite happy with the results.:D .

[fungussface]

The weather has not been kind here in SE Qld and Saturday and Sunday were the only two nights that were relatively cloudless. I had some success with my Pentax Digital on 20s @ F 9.8.

[xstream]

Here's a few more taken tonight from backyard with 300D unprocessed.

[Chung]

Amazing photos! I was over at Port Melbourne again and the clouds just kept rolling in. How much longer do we have, especially for those in Victoria, until the comet fades away and no longer visible to the naked eye? Was planning a family spotting event this Friday and hoping it's still there.
Regards,
Chung

[dcnicholls]

Managed to get several images tonight from a few km to the west of Canberra (out along the Cotter Road, 1km west of Mt Stromlo). Used my wife's tiny Ixus400 15 seconds at ISO400. Very noisy but not without merit.

The clouds were, as usual, very irritating :(

DN

[acropolite]

Well captured John, seems to be better to take images early rather than later in the evening. I tried some just before 11pm but they were noisy and not all that spectacular.

[rat156]

Can you get too much of a good thing?

Nope.

Another widefield shot, from a different place this time...

http://tinyurl.com/3xafso

and a close up with the 4x Powermate...

http://tinyurl.com/2njh6d

Cheers
Stuart

[ballaratdragons]

The close up looks terrific Stuart!

Haven't seen many pics of it yet.

It looked like that thru my 12" and ED80 last night, but to be honest, I still prefer looking at it naked eye.

[rat156]

Yeah the naked eye view is great, but you can always look and image at the same time!

I'm going to try to do some work with the SBig at f40 tomorrow night, weather permitting, then again, maybe f25 first...

These images were really quite noisy, I want something more sensitive so I can get the exposure time down.

I'm surprised the webcam guys aren't posting that much, lots of widefield stuff, not much close in.

Cheers
Stuart

[ballaratdragons]

I tried the webcam last night. No good :shrug:

[Vol]

I was just at home, down near Tuggers taking shots off the veranda. That cloud was incredibly irritating last night, it just came out of no where!

I got a couple more ok pics tonight from home. My dad took us up into the mountains on the way to Tidbinbilla, was spectacular out there, but still a cloud sat right on the tail and wouldn't shift, even though there was clear sky on either side of the tail. I'm hoping to get some better views from the mountains this weekend, have to escape the city lights to truely enjoy this comet. Is the view good from up Stromlo?

Anyways, here are a couple more pics I took tonight :) I wish I had a tripod though.

[mojo]

Nice on Vol! I wouldn't be upset about the clouds, that first image is brilliant. The clouds actually add to the shot. It looks surreal.

[iceman]

More excellent shots! We were clouded in last night, looks the same again tonight. Hoping to get out tomorrow or Friday for the last few tries..

[Ric]

Hi Vol, nice images that you have captured. I wouldn't be too worried about the clouds either, I agree with Mojo they add to the shot and the depth of the image.

Nice work

[avandonk]

Thanks for all the images folks. It sustained me while looking at smoke and cloud in Melbourne for the past week. Managed to get this from Kangaroo Ground (NE of Melb) last night just after more cloud drifted out of the way just in time.

Details
Canon 5DH, 24to105mm F4L at 24mm and F4.used a fixed tripod, 6x10 sec at an ISO 1600.
Used IP to convert raw to tiff. Then summed 3x2 to give equivalent of 3x20sec with Registar. These were then stacked and averaged in Rgst and the usuals in PS.
The field of view is 85x57 degrees.
Larger image here 1MB
http://members.optus.net/trlee8/McN_L.jpg
I have many more and hope to work out better ways to get the information out of them.
I am not used to shooting targets that move with respect to the stars.

Bert

[RB]

Great images Vol and Bert.

Vol, like the guys said, the cloud adds to the image. Very nice.

[Tamtarn]

This shot was taken from home looking across the valley. Single shot taken with my simple Cybershot ......... Nothing to compare with other IIS members but I'm happy that I have a personal reminder of the great comet McNaught :D

22617

Barb

[OneOfOne]

Oh, here is my attempt from Brighton on Monday night...my first ever serious "astro" photo. Camera is a Panasonic Lumix LX1 compact. I think about 30 seconds, F5.6, 400ASA.

[cometcatcher]

I really like that Lumix photo.

[meade expert]

Took a couple of club members up to Berrima last night due to the overcast weather over the illawarra .Took this image up there .Still fairly bright (mag 2).:D

[Lightninghunter]

Heres one from the 22nd down at Lang Lang Jetty.
http://www.lightninghunter.net/CometMcnaught22107.jpg

[iceman]

Hi Lightning Hunter, very nice image! :welcome: to the forum!

[Lightninghunter]

Thanks Iceman.Caught up with janoskiss (Steve) while I was down there and had a look through his telescope.It looked awesome through it.

[danielsun]

Here's mine from Brighton beach.

[ronnierigel]

Here's my attempt from the backyard--inner Melbourne.

Certainly more impressive view from Wallan the yesterday.

ron

[janoskiss]

Hey, Lindsay! Welcome! :hi: Stunning shot - despite those stupid lights along the beach.

[Davo3960]

Finally got some spare time and good weather. Here's McNaught with the Small Magellanic Cloud over Wilsons Promontory (Vic).

[Vol]

I'm glad you like my pics, even with the clouds :)

It clouded over tonight, so we didn't even get a glimpse of the comet :( I'm going out camping, so hopefully I'll get some good shots minus the city lights this weekend :)

There are some amazing pictures here!

[Jonathan]

There's some really good images so far :D
Because I'm at work during the evenings and it was cloudy all of last weekend I only got to see the comet for the first time on Tuesday night, and what a great sight it was!
So after a week of frustration I decided to take my D200 on to the roof at work and get a few snaps before it disappears. (hope my boss isn't reading this ;) )
Skyglow was a problem but it was good fun anyway. I was just happy to get any pics at all.
The first one is with 70-200 f/2.8 at 70mm @ f/2.8, 8sec, ISO400.
The second is with 50mm f/1.4 at f2, 13sec, ISO400.
The last is at 18mm f/4 for 25sec, ISO400.

[RB]

Nice shots Jonathan, it's a really amazing comet isn't it?

[Jonathan]

Thanks RB. It's certainly one of those astronomical events that won't be forgotten for a long time. I guess there's a fair chance it's the brightest comet a lot of us will ever see.

[cometcatcher]

Finally! A short break in the clouds and there it was. At least I can say I saw it now. The view from Mackay not as good as further south but at least it's there.

Edit, I notice the angle of the tail is also different from various locations around Australia.

[glenc]

APOD today. Explanation: What's happening over the horizon? Many a sky enthusiast who thought they had seen it all had never seen anything like this. To the surprise of many Northern Hemisphere observers, the tail of Comet McNaught remained visible even after the comet's head set ahead of the Sun. What's more, visible were bright but extremely rare filamentary striae from the comet's expansive dust tail. The cause of dust tail striae are not known for sure, but are possibly related to fragmentation of comet's nucleus. The last comet to show prominent striae was Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. Pictured above, the tail of Comet McNaught was caught just after sunset last Friday above the Carnic Alps of northern Italy. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0701/naughtail_fulle_big.jpg

[iceman]

davo! Excellent shot! Were you tracking on the stars for that exposure?

[auroradude]

Here's another comet that displayed nice filimantary straie. Some of you might remember Comet West in 1976.
Here's some images: http://www.auroradude.com/CometWest.html

[xraydelta1]

Hi guys... I was on a CFA strike team overnighting in Bairnsdale, all I had was my digital camera and a little $10 tripod...

[Phil Hart]

hi folks,

Here are a few more images from Wednesday night, at Mt Macedon near Melbourne.

24mm wide angle:
http://www.philhart.com/gallery/CometMcNaught/Comet_McNaught_24mm

50mm with extreme levels stretch:
http://www.philhart.com/gallery/CometMcNaught/50mm_Equalised

It's definitely fainter than Monday night but still a very impressive comet. I think there's a faint ion tail showing in the stretched 50mm image. Makes it look even more like those photos of Comet West!

cheers
Phil.
www.philhart.com/gallery/Astrophotography (http://www.philhart.com/gallery/Astrophotography)

[iceman]

Excellent images, Phil! Nicely done.

[fringe_dweller]

Phil congrats - altho I see Rob McNaught pipped ya to the post(ing) mebbe?
but just the same, thats a milestone to be pleased with (ion tail detection/confirmation) :bowdown:

[ving]

super image phillip :)

[erick]

Rob McN has an ion tail image? Link please - I haven't found it? Ta. :)

[gregl456]

http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1new.htm (http://msowww.anu.edu.au/%7Ermn/C2006P1new.htm)

[erick]

Thanks Greg, yes I have been following Rob's site - but he doesn't mention an ion tail here neither do his published photos suggest one? But I'm probably missing something - please set me right if that is the case!

[auroradude]

Hi Phil,
Super images! Definate ion tail. I can see a trace of it in your 50mm shot from Monday night as well.
http://www.philhart.com/gallery/CometMcNaught/CometMcNaught_50mm?full=1
Wish I had some nice glass on it too.
Dennis A.

[Phil Hart]

yes, it is there in the monday night images also, but a bit more obvious now. i've also had time to process the images more today, which i didn't on tuesday!

cheers
phil.

[dcnicholls]

That is an exquisitely beautiful image. It captures the etheral feeling of looking at a Great Comet in a dark sky. I'm beginning to think C/McNaught is a match for Ikeya-Seki.

DN

[Davo3960]

Yes Iceman the image was tracked using my scopes mount. It was 3 mins long with the 350D. Here's a cropped and rotated image.

[fringe_dweller]

more than one? person has asked to see a film image of p1, I assume they mean from a dark sky site on top of that?

seeing our usual development lab with the half million dollar u beaut kodak express machine is in transition, i did the rather crazy thing of taking it somewhere else equally reputable!, but unknown quality, with the same machine - i knew from long bitter experience that is a very stupid and dumb thing to do, as you have to take time to train them and break them in so to speak in the art of astro pic development ;) you know .. yes its supposed to be dark it's.. like.. nightime and, no thats not dust, its stars your trying to wipe off .. ect.
anyway the very nice lady did their best and went over backwards to do it right, said the machine/computer was having a fit tryin to decide what should be done *sigh* oh well my mistake, will be patient and get them done correctly - later on - no hurry, and it was late in the day had to go

but as way of an example of comparison to the old time shots of the great comets, heres one off the 300dpi neg scan disc that they provide, its woeful, but you get the idea, taken monday night 22nd, it was 35mm fuji H 400 iso/speed film 15-20 sec exp? on a tripod - 50mm f1.7 lens/ @ f2 - pentax mv body - both from the 1980's and the whole unit cos $200, tripod was more expensive :)
unprocessed - ah well throw good money after bad :lol:

nothing wrong with negs, they look totally normal, thank goodness, they cant stuff up negs, except scratch them - i was shocked they werent using cotton gloves to handle the negs - i felt a little ill when i saw that scene :P

should blow up real nice being 400 tho :thumbsup: and i have many others from that night, just wish my other film pentax with the 28mm mm and fuji provia in it hadnt locked up and ruined the roll - such is astrophotography, as ned kelly famously said

[asimov]

Heres my best from the 22nd. Although, I'm reviewing some more images I had (from the same night) that may be better than this. What a bloody marvellous object! :thumbsup:

Well done to all! :)

[RB]

Nice one Asi !

We've got wall to wall cloud cover. :(

[danielsun]

Here's a couple from the last two nights.

By the way thats a ripper Asi! :thumbsup:

[bobtuc47]

Here is a shot of the comet Mc Naught done last night.With LXD 55 10'' S/N and a Canon 400D (30 seconds ex., )

[fringe_dweller]

kickin butt as usual there everybody! i am looking forward to more close-ups like that - wicked! like ala.. mr mcnaught, its time for your close-up sir

you know already I like that one John;) as i said i would/could retire a happy man from comet imaging if i had taken that shot :thumbsup:
love that perspective on the tail, gives me a real clear impression of the structure of that crazy cats tail, looks like a helix or fishbone/spine or something - its very enlightening :eyepop:

[asimov]

Thanks Kearn. I kind of took the hint & brought the pic out of it's 'hidey hole';)

[ballaratdragons]

Good to see that Rob McNaught is getting fantastic images of his own Comet every night.

This one (he has discovered 10 comets) will make his name famous!

Onya Rob :thumbsup: Ya done the Aussies proud mate!!!!

[h0ughy]

Hey Mr Paul Mayo, imager to the Stars has nailed a page on astronomy.com


http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ga&id=99&aid=5095

[dugnsuz]

Finally got to take a pic!!
2x30sec, iso400 Pentax ist-D withPentax 28mm lens @ f2.8
Hahndorf, South Australia at 21:40
Happy Australia Day
Cheers
Doug

[fringe_dweller]

I agree Ken, Rob should aussie of the year next year :thumbsup: that surprised me Tim Flannery getting it today, it wasnt nicole kidman or kieren perkins, it was bloomin scientist! and not a heart surgeon, they dont count :P coz there tooo obvious a candidate :whistle:

[KISA]

Hi,

Here are a few shots from a very LARGE collection from Lostock. :shrug:

Canon 300D, 18-55 Std Canon lens and a 70-300 Sigma APO lens.
F5.6
ISO400

I still cant believe our luck :)

[fringe_dweller]

I have to say, i havent seen the obligatory wide field uluru/ayers rock with p1 - trust me theyll turn up ;) i guess they had the same monsoonal thingy that we got on the important evenings - once in 50 year event apparently? (the monsoon) :rolleyes:

[ronnierigel]

Still a great site above Mlbourne despite the sky-glow.
canon 350d, 300mm lens, 8sec, 400iso, f5.7, some levels adjustments in PS

ron

[rat156]

Hi All,

Got some closeups

1 Second subs (100, 20, 20, 20) LRGB.
Prime focus 8"LX200GPS @ f10

http://tinyurl.com/34hwh7

6 second subs (20, 20, 20, 10) LRGB.

http://tinyurl.com/323ojt

Cheers
Stuart

[RB]

Great images everyone, keep 'em coming.

If you haven't had a go yet, please give it a try !

:clap:

[kometarium]

Congratulations on all the great images that get posted here! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I´m following this forum since I made my first pic of the comet - when it was still visible here in the northern hemisphere... sigh (http://www.kometarium.com/2006p1.html)

Now I´m preparing the next comet column for an german astronomy magazin and wanted to ask if anybody here is interested to provide some photos for it? Would surely be a big pleasure to all of our readers up here.

Keep up the good work and thanks to everyone in advance!:)

Kind regards
Burkhard
www.kometarium.com

[erick]

WOW!!! :eyepop:

Thanks!!

[erick]

"Is the Pope a Catholic?" Burkhard, I think you'll be flooded with offers! :)

[RB]

You're welcome to use my comet images Burkhard.
Send me a PM and I'll email you my collection.

And welcome to IIS.

:thumbsup:

[mojo]

The comet is dimmer but I'm still impressed by it. This is my only good shot from last night. I wish I could have done the view justice but I've discovered that as a photographer, I make a much better software developer :)

[RB]

I think your not to shabby at either vocation Terry.

Beautiful shot !

[Garyh]

Hi everyone again...:hi:
Managed to get a quick peak last night as well but only for about 10min before the cloud covered the whole sky...Funny that left home without a cloud in the sky and a hour later...clouded out!!!
Havn`t seen it since saturday so was getting withdrawal symptoms.
Has faded quiet a bit since then, as my guess maybe mag 3?
Heres a pic I managed to get of it before the small gap closed up..
135mm @ f/4 15 sec...canon 300d...tracked
Maybe tonight I might get a better go...:shrug:
Cheers Gary

[iceman]

Wow Terry, that's great with the fence. Awesome foreground.

[h0ughy]

shhh dont tell him that:P ;) , now he might think his great shots are worthy of making it to that magazine......or space weather!:whistle: have you submitted it Mojo, you should:thumbsup:

[albys]

Got my first sighting and pics last night on a quick trip to Fitzroy Community Oval in inner-city Melbourne! Pretty pleased with the results, considering the amount of streetlights around and my pretty basic compact digital camera - and me lying with one ear on the ground trying to get a view using my micro-tripod which sits about 15cm off the ground... but kinda wonderful to be able to see it so close to home! These were taken around 10pm.

Pentax Optio 555, 15 secs, f/2.8 and 3.6 respectively, ISO equiv. 64

[Tamtarn]

These are the first pics I've taken with my new Pentax ist DL from home last night......Still learning about settings.....Single shot no processing or cropping, only have 50mm Lens at this time :)

227032270422705



David

[adds]

Managed to get out and see the comet last night. Thought I would post the best pic I got. Canon 350D, 300mm Canon Lens, 13secs, f/4
:)

[Blue Skies]

I might as well join in too....
Here's one from Sat 20th, overlooking the lights of the south part of Perth:

[phobos]

He was obsessed with getting that fence in the shot but it was worth it. Here are a few more pics from that session.