Comet McNaught (2006/P1) - images

[dcnicholls]

Splendid images, phobos.

DN

[cometcatcher]

Some of you fellas have mighty dark skies. The comet was barely visible in 7x50 binocs tonight.

A mate of mine, Andru, took this photo before the storm clouds rolled in.

Mintron video camera, 28mm lens 64X frame integration.

[ballaratdragons]

Geez Terry! That is so 'Australian'!!!!!

Put it on a post card or a promotion for Oz!
Fantastic mate :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

I hate lights and the moon. it has dimmed immensely since I saw it last. It is heaps further south too.

[iceman]

Great shots John! The fence shot was definitely a keeper!

[DaveGee]

Imaged 26th Jan
Cheers
Dave

[Ric]

Hi Dave, great looking images of the nucleus.
I must get some like that as well once the Moon rises a bit later in the night.

Cheers

[loomberah]

Actually, he has found 32!

[loomberah]

The ion (or possibly a neutral sodium, given its colour) tail has been visible since the 20th- I posted it on my web page here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

It is reasonably obvious, even in twilight.

The comet is also visible to the naked eye in the mornings, I posted a pic of that yesterday, same URL as above.

cheers, Gordon

[auroradude]

More nice images lads! The fence one is a keeper. Nice composition - and I say that as a photographer. Worth crawling around with the snakes!

It just occurred to me - I wonder if the "split" tail look that is so prevelent in many images, especially the ones of the nucleus, is actually caused by the shadow of the inner (and denser) coma falling on the tail?

[loomberah]

Rob McNaught and I looked at this on my image of 18th Jan and some other images, it is definitely not a shadow, because it is curved! At the time the angle subtended by the sun from the comet was about 3 degrees, meaning that any shadow's cone would only be about 20 times as long as the diameter of the nucleus (plus dense nearby coma). The dark line clearly extends much further than this. I think we are just looking through an expanding cone of material and it appears darker where we see the least amount of dust (therefore least reflected sunlight).

cheers, Gordon

[laserphil]

Hi All,

I have just joined this site. How does one post images as I have a few of comet McNaught that may be of interest?

Laserphil

[[1ponders]]

:hi: Laserphil.

If you click on the "Go Advanced" link at the bottom of the thread and then select "Manage Attachements" halfway down the page. Jpeg uploads are limited to 150Kb.

[laserphil]

Thanks Paul,
I will have to rescan the images as they are all larger than the limit. All taken on film!

Phil

[iceman]

Just use an image resizing program like "irfanview" and save them under 150k jpeg. Make sure you resize them to around 800px wide to keep the filesize down without compressing too much.

Gordon, nice to see you on IIS! Your images are amazing!

Are they all taken while tracking?

[dcnicholls]

Also, what sort of tracking mount do you use?

DN

[blueskies123_89]

Hi all, it seems as if Melbourne is going to be clouded out again for a couple of days. I have put, side by side, a images that i have taken over 4 days. The exposure settings are different, so different the amount of tail visible isn't an indication of the fading of the comet, but you can still see the angle changing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieland/370373639/

and some other photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieland/370373523/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgieland/367954423/

[JohnH]

Hi all,

No fancy gear with me - static tripod only and the 20D. Comet visable one night only (21/1) - but with the crescent moon and venus it was a great sight over Mt Dromadary at Narooma...more to come... have only processed the close up so far....

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Gordon.
I found the '10' information on a website when trolling around. It must be an old site that hasn't been updated.

32!!!! :eyepop: Fantastic. But now Robs name will be spoken among the great: 'Halley', 'West' etc.

I imagine even Rob is blown away with his Comet :thumbsup:

[loomberah]

Thanks ;) and yes all tracked, but not guided. (Edit: apart from the untracked 15 sec morning photo, camera on mount but motor not running.)



The images from the 18th and 19th are taken from home, using my home made 25cm Newtonian for tracking (theres a pic of that on my home page). Then work interfered and I had to bring my portable but quite old Polaris style mount, and have used that at SSO and from near Dubbo.


cheers, Gordon

[jjjnettie]

Nice clearish skies tonight with the moon stuck behind clouds most of the time.:thumbsup:

[CometGuy]

Tonight I could see 10 degrees of tail before it it got chopped off by cloud. The attached image is a stack of 5 images, each 8 seconds long using a Canon 350D + Canon 70-200 lens set at 70mm f2.8. I used IRIS's 3 star registration to align the images before combining them. I also a cropped a little so this image measures 12 x 13.5 degrees. By keeping exposures at 8 seconds I could use a tripod to mount the camera.

Terry

[[1ponders]]

Like Terry we were lucky enought to have a brief appearance tonight, albeit chopped off by cloud. I wasn't expecting it so I didn't travel to a darker site. This shot is a 20 sec f/2.0 50mm shot from my light polluted front yard. I was quite surprised that the comet was still naked eye even with all the surrounding lights.

[asimov]

I probably over cooked this one a wee bit, but I wanted to get the finer detail happening. I had to compress it quite hard to get it on the forum too which doesn't help the image any.

6 X 3 min exp. 400D piggybacked. (from the 22nd Jan)

[RB]

Great shot Paul, stands out nicely.
This comet still continues to surprise us by it's performance !



I like it John, it really emphasizes the comet's structure.

[Garyh]

Hi again everyone,
Had a quick peak thursday night before cloud out, friday looked like it would be the same as a bunch of low cloud started moving across on sunset. Nearly stayed home but what the heck!! you only see comets like this a few times in ones life time..:D...and it actually cleared up by 9pm..
Took a buch of images at different focal lengths and set up my gm-8 so could get some trackin happening...
Heres my favorite for the night..
details...35mm @f/3.5 80 sec tracked Df removed some noise removal and some slight processing in Ps..
Still a impressive sight even with a half moon showing....:thumbsup: tail at least 10 degrees long visually and took a bit longer to spot the sucker after sunset.
Can`t wait till that moons not rising till after 10pm!!!
Cheers Gary

[JohnG]

Hi all

Last night (Sat, 27.01) was the first time in over a fortnight that the sky was clear down here on the South Coast, the only oportunity that I have had to photograph the comet although I have seen it with the naked eye in full splendour at a different location.

Wide angle view gives a good idea how it looked with the naked eye here last night, focus is a bit soft though, head through the Tak at prime focus, I am definately out of practice with all the cloud around. :(

Cheers

JohnG

[RB]

Great shots John (Mr TAK man !)

I love the wide field with your observatory in the foreground and the great view at prime through your TAK !

Well done, hope you get more.

[astro_south]

One from last evening in Brisbane - not a great south western horizon from home, but it is getting high enough to spot from the front lawn. Still quite a nice naked eye sight given the moon and suburban skyglow.

[matt]

Nice shots John.

I especially like the pic with the observatory in the frame. Gives good perspective:thumbsup:

[laserphil]

Hi All,
I think I may have the images now at a useable size. All taken at Holbrook NSW on 22/1 while returning from holiday.
Camera - Practica TL1000 with 50mm lens for 2a and 3a and 30-200mm zoom at 200mm for 1a. Exposures were between 10 and 30 seconds at f2.8. Fuji film asa400.

Phil

[davidoc]

Hi All, - just found this site and registered!
After a break of almost 10 years since my last serious attempt at astrophotography, the appearance of McNaught in our skies inspired me to have another go. On Jan 22nd I took some shots using a Nikon D70 and Nikon 18-70mm zoom. My best shot (shown)was 30 seconds at f3.5 / ISO 1600, but the lens is a little slow and the Nikon sensor is not the lowest noise at this gain, even with noise reduction turned on, so I just couldn't get the depth I was looking for in the dust tail without excessive star trailing. Next night I dragged out the old 6 inch scope and guiding gear and managed much better with a 144 second exposure with the camera piggybacked and a lower ISO setting. I'm prettypleased with this one. I'm looking to borrow a faster prime lens at a slightly longer focal length so that I'll be set for more when the moon glare dies down again in the early evening. Looks like I'm hooked again! :-)

Now. lets hope I can get the attachments to work

[[1ponders]]

:hi: and :welcome: Dave (another one :rolleyes: :lol: Old forum joke.)

Great re-start to the hobby. Looking forward to more shots from you :clap:

[Lightninghunter]

Awesome lot of images that have been posted.
I have added a few to my website.Photos have been taken from Lang Lang Jetty,Pakenham,Catani and Beechworth.Various times of the evening,ISOs ,lenses and shutter speeds.Last time I was out was Friday night out the back of Beechworth.
http://www.lightninghunter.net/latest_pictures.htm

[tornado33]

Hi all
I got the comet tonight from Wallsend Park with Berts 300mm f2.8 flourite lens, 31x2 sec ISO 400 aligned on comet head.
The yellow colour has gone, now coma is green, and it has a sort of antetail (sunward tail) probably a sheet of dust particles.
Gee what a changable comet.
Scott

[xelasnave]

Got my first sighting tonight and a photo to remember the experience:) . It is very hazy here but at least the clouds left (I am on the river flat near the Clarence River at the moment) I thought it would disappear so I banged some off, poor focus, dust still on the sensor on a camera tripod not fit for anything..but I am happy I saw it at least but only just. Shot with a 300d ,standard lens, 1600 iso and 800 various images of various exposures managed to bring out something at least for the memory but not a good shot on any level.. but there is hope for tomorrow night the way its clearing:D .
alex

[RB]

I only managed to get one decent shot of it tonight before it disappeared behind the trees. :sad:
And it was my test shot, I didn't even have time to frame it right :tasdevil:

Anyway here it is:

Single frame using the TOA 130 @ F/5.6 and the 20Da, 10 sec exp @ ISO 1600, in cam N/R.

[fringe_dweller]

catching up a bit now, a couple of pics from my very LP backyard last wednesday evening 24th, around 9:15-30 pm - had a good and lucky run of views here from saturday to saturday! (sort of, well, observed p1 on all those nights at least, except friday gone 26th, some were twilight affected 9 - 9:30 pm views tho, like last sunday 21st, and a storm view last 20th - when it appeared as bright as lightning between the clouds!) 10 different days/ocassions in total now!

i dont think i captured the naked eye view to well with the LP in it, it had a much longer and different tail than that naked eye! it was prettier than that

a 4 sec shot iso 400, and a 2 sec iso 100 , 50mm lens 350d from jpegs

[loomberah]

I've just posted a new pic from this morning here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

I'll probably get around to posting an 85mm pic at some stage too, but right now I need sleep:zzz2:

cheers, Gordon

[h0ughy]

WOW, I am impressed, this is a wonderful image, congrats on a job well done!!

[JohnG]

I wouldn't complain too much there, RB, the shot still came out quite nice. :thumbsup:

Cheers

JohnG :)

[serge]

Another couple of images of the comet taken on 28.01.2007 around 50 km south from Sydney. Canon 350D, 50mm.

Best Regards,
Serge.

[Ric]

Nice images Serge, this comet just will not quit even with the moon out and about.

great stuff

[Moonbeam2]

More Pics at http:astroblogger.blogspot.com/

[firstlight]

Hi all,

Clouds finally lifted around Brisbane, and work is not calling. I thought I'd visit a friend outside of Beaudesert tonight despite the Moon for a chance to see the comet again in dark (that is no city lights) skies. It is still pretty hazy and the comet was only just barely visible unaided, barely 2 deg tail. The 400D draged it out of the muck here. 2 images stacked, applied Photo Filter Cooling filter 82, and resized in Photoshop CS. 30s, f5.6, iso 1600, fl75mm.

22900

[loomberah]

Finally got around to posting the 85mm pic from Monday morning, also a pic through my 25cm from Monday evening.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

cheers, Gordon

[jakob]

Sunday evening from Dural I captured this. Visibility was lousy, could just see Comet with bare Eyes.

[Garyh]

Hi All,
Love all your shots Gordon, but can`t see your latest images?..only the 30mm ones from monday.
Had a go at imaging mcnaught in the morning but the weather was not on my side..clear but lots of smoke and mist making the horizon very murky. Comet barely visible in 10x50s , could only see a degree or two of tail but least I saw it and took a pic as well..have to try when the sky is transparent!!!
Heres proof....
Cheers Gary

[erick]

Very pretty photo, Gary!

[iceman]

Lovely, Gary! Beautiful, Gordon!

Gary, make sure you press CTRL-F5 to see the latest images on Gordon's page.

I couldn't see it this morning, wall to wall cloud :)

[Garyh]

Cheers erick, Mike! all that smoke makes pretty pis but the comet sure suffered...barely visible in a 30sec exposure!!

[iceman]

Ok I finally got around to finish processing all of my McNaught images from the 18th, 19th, 20th and the 26th of January.

I've uploaded them to my Comet McNaught Image Gallery (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/mygallery/thumbnails.php?album=32), but I'll attach some of my favourites here as well. There are 3 pages in the gallery.

The ones from the 18th, 19th and 20th were from IISAC2007 at Lostock, with Saturday (20th) being the best day in terms of brightness of the tail. The ones from the 26th (next post) were taken at Gosford waterfront, with lots of local light pollution as well as the waxing gibbous moon in the North. A much more difficult object to photograph as well as even see naked eye!

Thanks for looking.

[iceman]

And from the 26th..

[Garyh]

All beautiful shots Mike, I wish I got the full extent of the tail. On the best night I forgot to take my wideangle lense..then was clouded out till a few days ago...Love the jetty pics from 26th...very nice.
Cheers

[Ric]

Great images Mike, the jetty images are just great with the boats.

cheers

[jjjnettie]

The moon is definately spoiling our viewing of the comet.
But on the other hand we are getting more colour in our backdrops.
This picture was taken last night, 29th Jan.
15 sec at AV 3.2 ISO 400.

[hector]

Hi everyone
Was looking at the comet with the 18" scope the other day and I noticed that the nucleus and coma appeared green. I thought that I was imagining that but some other people who turned up where I was observing from also noted the comet appeared green. It is still looking fantastic, far better than I imagined with the moon as bright as it is.
Must admit that some of the photos here are FANTASTIC. This must be the most photgaphed comet in history...
Clear Skies
Andrew

[RB]

Yes most definitely Andrew, the coma does have a green tint.
I picked it up photographically but it would be awesome to also see it thru large aperture !

[loomberah]

Hi Andrew, the green colour of the coma has been washed out on most photos of the comet due to overexposure, but you can see it on my inset photo through the 25cm Newtonian last night, particularly around the sunward side of the coma. The core of it is overexposed in that image, but I'm sure the colour is right across it. Maybe I'll try for a nice coma photo tonight.

cheers, Gordon

[ashley.gale]

Hi All,

Below is my pictures from Lostock, not as good as everyone elses, but thought I would add them anyway.

Congrats to all those who did get awesome shots! I'm in awe and envious at the same time :eyepop:

[h0ughy]

finally processed one image from lostock, the tail taken on the saturday night 20th January

[iceman]

Nice ones h0ughy, about time! :)

Nice shots Ashley!

[johnr]

Here's a shot I took from Skye, above Adelaide on the 22th Jan.
The camera was an Olympus 720SW on "Fireworks" mode...

Also found this image from Eyre Peninsular on flicker by John White (http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwhite/366649244/)...I'd love to see the high res version..

Thanks for for all the great images here, btw, it's been great surfing over the last few weeks.

[RB]

Hi John R welcome to IIS and thanks for sharing your photo with us, nice shot, hope to see more.

:hi:

[RB]

Hey great to see your photos Dave !

That Lostock scene will be unforgettable to all who where there, lovely, and you've done a great job on the 2nd one too mate.

[h0ughy]

Thanks RB. Been playing some more, tried to get detail of the tail and a few other shots:D

[iceman]

These comet images are very difficult to process, since it's right after sunset and there's horrible gradients..

Trying to bring out the tail while still controlling the highlights is very difficult!

[Fomalhaut]

Wao, awesome pictures guys, hope to see more of them. :eyepop:


I want to come back to Australia right now :sadeyes: .

[h0ughy]

Yes I agree, I nearly cried when using registar to process the tiffs I produced from the RAW files. the stars were perfect but the skyline was everywhere:whistle: :whistle:

[Garyh]

Hi again everyone..
Had another go this morning but again the smoke and haze hampered my views down low on the horizon. There`s a few bushfires that will burn for sometime on the coast here..:mad2:
Was better viewing than the other night as could see the comet tail quiet a few degrees long visually.
Image taken with canon 300d 35mm lense for 60sec iso 800...procesed in Ps and noise reduction done..
Maybe tomorrow night shall be better?
Cheers Gary
By the way, very nice shots Houghy!!!:thumbsup:

[kometarium]

There is a spectacular 5-minute image from NZ on spaceweather
(http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/mcnaught/28jan07/Yoneto1.jpg)
with the comet and the milky way!!!

Many thanks to all who sent me pictures for the magazine:hi:

Cheers
Burkhard

[jjjnettie]

Fanstastic work everyone.
I especially like the realistic ones like Ashleys because that is exactly how it looks in the sky.
The "Roosters Tail" shots are special too.
An analogy would be that of a beautiful girl, without makeup and with makeup. I like the natural look.

[DaveGee]

I ran some images of the nucleus I took the other day through the LS Filter (Larson-Sekanina) in AstroArt to try and see what is buried in the coma.
I'm not sure how much is real or not:shrug: and I have posted same to the comet-ml yahoo group and if there any wise words expounded then I'll advise...

Regards
Dave
Having too much fun!!!:D

[Diamond Rose]

Gary,

I love the morning pics of the comet. Don't worry about the haze. I was up this morning trying to capture it, and I had to compete with lightning, racing clouds and strong winds. You view is pretty much what I saw in binoculars, but my photos came out very badly. Nikon F75 50mm 90 sec 200speed

My apologies for posting such a bad image. If anyone can advise me on what went wrong I would be very grateful :)

~ Bruce

[loomberah]

Bruce, it looks like its not in focus, did you have the lens set to infinity? Also, what aperture did you use? I think ISO 400 or 800 would have given a better result- you would record more stars and more tail, and you could use a shorter exposure so there would be less smearing of the tail and trailing of the stars. Of course tracking on the sky would help a lot, but if you just have a tripod you can always take several shorter exposures and add the scanned images together in image processing software to produce a better result.
It seems the focus is much worse on the left side of the image, so you may have suffered from some film buckle during your exposure- this can be a problem if it is very humid. Make sure you pull the film tight with the rewind lever before exposing.


cheers, Gordon

[Diamond Rose]

Thanks, Gordon!

I used a local streetlight to focus. I thought it was far enough away to be set to infinity. Perhaps it wasn't. The aperture was around F4-6 (certainly no more than that). Perhaps the buckle you mention was caused by the wind. The tripod seemed steady to me, though. But, it was strong enough to push me back, once or twice.

A week ago I didn't know anything about aperture, exposures etc.. It's been a fast-track learning curve.

Thanks, Mate! I appreciate your help :)

I would like to say how much I have enjoyed seeing everyone's pics. They are magnificent!

~ Bruce

[Lightninghunter]

Still loving the pics everyone.Truely awesome.Heres a link to some pics from a mate of mine from Wangaratta.I feel they are some of the best McNaught pics I have seen.I did say some:D because there have been some jaw dropping images on here.
http://www.robalexanderphotography.com/comet.html
http://www.robalexanderphotography.com/
Cheers
Linds

[h0ughy]

some EXCELENT shots there LightningHunter
:thumbsup:

[CometGuy]

Finally a clear night in Brisbane, but very strong moonlight made it look very dim with naked eye (although it is still mag 3.0). Here is a very contrast stretched image at 10:01 UT Jan 31 comprising 5 x 30 second exposures @ ISO200 with 300D using a Sigma 17-70 lens at 24mm f3.2. I've also cropped the image to 35 degrees tall and you can see 47 Tucanae is in upper left corner. Still has a very long tail, but not visible visually due to moonlight.

[swannies1983]

Here's my first attempt at the comet. Also was my first attempt at imaging with my new 400D. Details are as follows:

25sec exposure
ISO400
f5.6
50mm

Focus is a bit out and moonlight was a problem. Some star trails due to no tracking. However, I am happy with my first attempt.:)

[fringe_dweller]

knocked up a rough and ready montage/panorama of p1 and its enormous tail using 5 images taken in succession @ iso 400 50mm lens 350d, photomerge/ps, from last monday night 22nd jan - while not very pretty - hopefully when i use the raw versions (converted to tiff) and one of those great pc panorama proggies on the pc (and do the post processing/enhancement first before merging, artificial darkframes ect. lol ;) it might come out okish?
it is a dirty looking scene - but it was dirty looking comet at this point to my eyes - reminds of the natural view fairly well, wasnt spectacular skies really at the time, ok tho, transparency wasnt very brilliant, but seeing was, and it was certainly dark - i was too close to victoria :lol: and there was still a little smoke haze from there down there. despite the rains.
if it works, its a nice big file for print? i dont think ill ever understand why i just didnt put the 18-55mm @ 18 mm on :( :shrug: :lol: too much excitement I expect - it was a bit dusty for changing lenses, i think :P

[Ron Garrett]

I notice in my photos of 2000/p1 that there are very numerous very fine striae in the tail of THE comet, roughly perpendicular to its length. Rather like a feather. They show up best on inverted images at 4Mp or more These photos were taken a 6Mp on a 300D at iso 800 for 5sec at f55 and f/1.8. But have been resampled. I hope they still show the feathers. Has anyone else seen them? Any info?

Ron

[fringe_dweller]

When are the photos from Ron - the 24th?

[Ron Garrett]

Sorry FringeDweller. but I went straight to bed after posting. Yes it was from the 24th (GOOD GUESS!!!). The feathers are present also on photos taken on the 25th. Photos taken on the 23rd were over light polluted city. The later ones were taken after driving to Kilmore and setting up on a country roadside. I haven't processed my 18mm photos but I doubt if they will match your montage!!! I'll have to go all the way out to our dark site at Heathcote.

By the way, Postalot, your dates-times for posts are OUT (Or are you using 'real'time - it confuses me)


My last post was TODAY not yesterday and was AM not pm

[iceman]

I'm not sure what you mean? The dates/times are displayed based on the setting in your profile. Make sure you've got it set for GMT+11.

[fringe_dweller]

Ron, i'm not sure what you mean by fine striae, you mean finer than the obvious naked ones? have you seen the STEREO images, interesting to see it from that angle! thats a different view!

http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer/index.php?p=latest_news

http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer/images/h1a_comet_jan11_18_lo.mpg

[erick]

That movie is amazing!! Thanks! Should give lots of people lots of great data and a whole better understanding of comet behaviour? :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

Erick, have ya checked out the APOD from today? :) whoa! excellent

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070201.html

not many scientists are interested in comets, its all old hat? (EDIT: by that i mean following and monitoring known comets progress, except in some cases) some are interested in studying the sun/solar wind via comets tails, some are interested in discovering them, specially earth orbit crossing ones, some are interested in the building blocks of life/earth, and comet's role in that, but , mostly they just belong to the advanced amateurs/semi-professionals/hunters and then there is the 'bright' comet 'freaks' like me :D EDIT: oh, and the millions of the public that enjoyed this show!

[Solanum]

Not a great picture I know, too long an exposure for one thing, so the head of the comet is rather elongated, but I thought I'd include it because I rather liked the trail from the 'plane, given that it was a 30 sec exposure you should be able to calculate the rate that the light was flashing! (yeah, I know, we don't know when it entered the cameras view....)

Was taken on the 25th, couldn't get a decent amount of light with a shorter exposure. Should have increased the ISO and put up with the noise - too late now!

By the way, has anyone got any recent pics through a scope? Any changes in the striations in the tail?

[loomberah]

I took some images through the 25cm on the evening of the 30th, it looked fairly similar to my image from the 29th, so I didnt post it. The striations were really only seen on wider angle photos anyway. My 30mm and 85mm photos from this morning didn't really show a lot, the tail is fainter than a few days ago.

I'm investigating getting some posters done of my 20mm wide angle photo showing the tail framed between a Grass Tree and a Cyprus Pine on the 20th, and maybe the 85mm photo from the same day showing the tail against twilight... I wonder how much demand there would be for them?

cheers, Gordon

[swannies1983]

Tried out the 400D again tonight. Seemed to get a better picture of the comet compared to last night.

[Garyh]

Another nice image Gordon.....:thumbsup:
I can`t see why you wouldn`t sell a few, they are beautiful shots!! , maybe ebay has a few up for sale already?...shall look later.
swannies1983..good to see that it is still holding up despite the full moon!!...keep shootin...
Cheers Gary

[badabing82]

This is a photo my mate took i am submitting it for him as i thought it was an amazing photo all in one while not just of the comet this captures it so well

[iceman]

Can you give some details on that image? I was sent it via email and it looks like a mockup rather than a real image.

[Solanum]

My thoughts exactly, if you zoom in on it you can see blurring where parts have been stuck together, though in fairness that could just be panorama parts joined.

[loomberah]

It looks like someone has been playing with photoshop to me, the lighting and shadows are not consistent across the image, and I'd suggest the time exposure on the lightning is not the same as that on the fireworks or the people, none of whom are motion blurred. What are those people on the right hand side looking at? its definitely not the fireworks, comet or lightning!

It screams FAKE! to me

cheers, Gordon

[erick]

A fun pic, but yes, looks like a construct.

Do you reckon a fireworks display would be allowed to proceed with a close electrical storm that could set off charges with a strike (or via electrical interference?). By the way, I wouldn't be sitting on an open beach with lightning striking nearby.

But, why didn't they use a more striking photo of the Comet in the construction?

[MrB]

I don't think it's a construct, a stitched panorama maybe, but not a fabrication.
Having a good knowledge of the area, and seeing a very similar view(albeit from another location along the coast) I can say that if it is a construct, it is a very accurate representation of what it looked like to my eye on the night! The lightning was there, so too the comet, and there were 5 firework displays in various places in Perth on Australia day.
From my position on the coast, it was awesome as I could see all 5 fireworks displays and the lightning.
Who cares if the camera had to be panned and then two or three images stitched to form a panorama?
BTW, according to Cartes du ceil(see link below), the image is real, ie, the distances between the pointers at far left, the comet, and Venus just to the left of the lightning right on the horizon. Try it yourself, location is Perth, 26th Jan, approx 9:15pm (inc. DST = +9 GMT)

Also, the lightning was striking over the horizon, it didn't get close untill much later in the night.

In my mind, this image is 'real' in that everything in it, I saw on the night, and that if the image is stitched from 3 frames, then the images would have been taken maybe a few mins apart.

Cheers,
Simo
Oh, and I can see lots of motion blurred people!

A larger version of the pic in question which appeared in the Aussiehomebrewer forums (http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13588&st=30).(I came here to post it, but was beaten :D ): http://members.iinet.net.au/~ben.riggs/non_web_page_stuff/misc/00118aus_auspva0.jpg
CDC view: http://members.westnet.com.au/foo2/Ausday.gif
(yes it's two stitched screen grabs!)

[dcnicholls]

I had the same initial reaction when I received the image by email this morning. However, it's apparently a fisheye lens image, so the people on the right could well be looking at the fireworks. That said, if it's not a Photoshop construct, it's an amazing fluke.

DN

[Garyh]

I sort of go with what simo says...but I reckon the left side of the stitched image is taken much earlier in the evening as the high cloud in that section is still very pink and around the fireworks it looks like deep red of the setting sun on the high clouds. I say its a 3 image stitch taken within a hour or so..not in a close timeframe. ie a few minutes.
Interesting?
Gary

[MrB]

The clouds over Perth look like that all night everynight(if theres cloud), and on Aus day they were very low preceding the thunderstorm. There's tons of light pollution here, especially over the Kwinana area, which I'm sure other Sandgroppers here can confirm.

Note that I do not know the person responsible for the photo, just that its very close to what I saw.

EDIT: Also, if that image were taken earlier, the location of the pointers would not match the screen grab from CDC. I'm going to assume the photographer has no interest in Astronomy so would not know how to fake their position.

[rogerg]

badabing82, I'd be interested to know who took it and for him/her to shed some light on its details - I have received this image in emails from several directions in the last few days, it's a shame that none include a copyright or by line ?

[Astro Girl]

I took this photo of the comet at Lostock using a digital camera.
I will never forget it.

:hi:

[mickoking]

The image seems legit to me. Everything seems to be in the right place. There was a thunderstorm on cracker night (to the north) and the comet is in the right position and orientation.

[cometcatcher]

Good photo Astro Girl! I'm sure you will have fond memories of the comet for years to come.

[cometcatcher]

It's a nice montage of 3 or 4 images. It is definitely a construct with a time difference in the sections. The brightest lightning bolt shows only faint reflection, yet the fainter lightning bolt's reflection is brighter. The left hand side of the image would have been taken in brighter lighting. There are "ghost" people scattered in the image, not from motion blur but from an overlay. The firework has blurred edges and would have ben placed in afterward, to help the transition in joining the lighter and darker halves.

The image may be accurate position wise but is out of context in time. It is a manipulation of events. A very nice one though.

[HOOT]

Erm, rubbish, there are no rules to lighting photo's and the reflection from the fireworks would definitley have a reflection impact on the cloud, probably no more than 10 seconds exposure, more than enough time to capture what is a brilliant shot but definitely a fluke, but I have been wrong before....




once.;)

[MrB]

I guess you had to have been there, or atleast, close by.
I too would love to hear from the photographer.


It does look kinda wierd but it may be due to the 'brighter' lightning being diffused by the rain, where the 'fainter' lightning is more of a point source and more susceptable to stark reflection. Pro photographers use diffusers and bouncing with their flashes, mainly to soften the light and reduce shadow but also to 'smear' otherwise sharp reflections for the same amount of illumination.

There's a LOT of light from the boat harbour, carpark and shopping mall. Go outside on a low-cloud night and check out how bright the clouds are above a football/cricket ground or racetrack or shopping centre. Shoot a 5sec photo of one of the above and I think you'll be surprised.
Not sure what the photographer would gain by taking a photo earlier in the day, and then only using the cloud from it?

There are also fireworks exploding illuminating people briefly as they move around. The 'ghosts' aren't as sharp as the 'solids', motion?.

Not sure if I'm looking at the same thing, but I can see overexposure and internal reflection from the lens elements.

I can't see any reason why this has to be a fake? A photo like this is not impossible to take. A 15mm lens has a 110degree field of view with an acceptable field distortion. Similar exposures will yield similar results for both fireworks and lightning. The fireworks being closer would be overexposed(like it is) for a decent distant lightning shot.
And most importantly, there is NO time difference(give or take a few mins) because everything in the image I saw with my own two eyes and it was indeed happening at the same time(I was switching between lightning and fireworks) although, as I mentioned before, I viewed from further down the coast. It's positionally correct, and temporally.

Anyway, this is getting way off topic so it's my last post on the subject( I hear cries of "GOOD!" :lol:), but I'm very happy in my mind that this is at the most, a stitched panorama, which is no more cheating than stacked images, dark framing, level adjusting and all the other tricks astrophotographers(including wannabe's like myself) use to improve a photo.

[cometcatcher]

Heheh, this reminds me of the moon landing photos debate. Anyway, back to the comet.

[bloodhound31]

The McNaught posts are slowing considerably....anyone else noticed?:poke:

Baz:D

[RB]

That's to be expected Baz.......

[loomberah]

Bright Moon, fading comet... only to be expected. I'm sure there will be a new surge of posts in a few days.

cheers, Gordon

[michael_sa]

.. and on cue Gordon...

Hi all, my first post here.
I have a couple of McNaught Comet photos I thought you may like to see (...that is if you're not sick of seeing it by now!)
All taken with a Nikon D50; 18mm, f3.5, 30 sec, ISO800, at Strathalbyn in South Australia.
(Taken on 25th, 24th, 23rd January '07 as shown below)
Regards,
Michael

[iceman]

Fantastic images, Michael!
How did you light the foreground?

Welcome to IIS!

[fringe_dweller]

looks like car headlights to me Mike ;) nice images michael! :) and welcome to the jungle! :D
and *ahem* i already *holds temples* predicted the sudden brightening of McNaught :D

[fringe_dweller]

I liked the spirited debate :thumbsup: its funny how these things happen!

AstroGirl I hope you have some more great times with the moon out of the way soon - thanks for posting that great shot :)

[michael_sa]

Thank you for the welcome and comments on the photographs.

The foreground was illuminated with fill flash from an off camera flash unit. In the first shot (as displayed here,) the battery in the camera was going flat. It died at the end of the noise reduction frame - so I never had the opportunity to review it until about an hour later - only to find it's sprinkled with hot pixels! grr (and it was about a 1km walk up there - and back of course)
I have some other shots of the comet on flickr (link is below) but the couple posted here I think were my best ones.

Thanks again for the welcome, I'm a similar story to a few other new members here - always been interested in this sort of thing, but I wasn't aware of IIS until recently.
Hopefully most of the new people here stick around longer than this comet will.
(great site btw!)
Regards,
Michael

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelbuddle/368899501/

[cometcatcher]

Wonderful pictures Michael!

There's still comet pics being posted in the solar system forum. Hasn't dried up yet.

[MrB]

Good to see some new photo's. Looking forward to dark skies again.
Gonna try to get up early one morning to get a look, I'm a deep sleeper so dunno how succesfull I'll be.


HAHA!, I was thinking exactly the same thing while writing the reply. :D

[Garyh]

Hi all.....:)
Yep sure is slowing down to a trickle now, but like me we are all waiting for that moon to get out of the way.......by tuesday I say we should see some nice shots rolling in again.
Heres a shot to keep the post going then...
Taken last night from home with the moon already rising...Comet up high enough now to see from home above the mountains..
Suprised to see quiet a bit of tail still in a 30 sec exposure. in binos could see maybe 3 degrees of tail as a guess....
Cheers and happy comet spotting...:thumbsup:
Gary

[MortonH]

I'm curious why there are so many photos that show the tail wonderfully well, but where the head of the comet has either just gone behind trees, buildings, etc,. or is actually well below the horizon. Maybe it's just my own taste, but to me these are like cutting the top off someone's head in a normal photo.

Any thoughts/explanations?

Morton

[RB]

Morton there are exceptions to every rule and this comet is an exception.
If you can resist photographing it's majestic tail simply because the head is below the horizon then IMO your missing a unique photo op.

The views we had of the comet up at Lostock were a once in a lifetime experience, we didn't just pack up our gear and go home as soon as the head of the comet had set.

Same goes for the other shots, it's not always possible to frame it perfectly due to one's location, but why miss out though?

Don't forget also it was close to the setting sun, and as the sky got darker the comet became brighter, the tail was very bright by this stage but the head had already started to set.

[tornado33]

Hi
I used Bert's 300mm f2.8 flourite lens. The comet is too low for my 10 inch scope to see it so I could not use its mount to track it. I put the lens on a tripod and shot 20, three sec. shots ISO 400 and aligned them on the comet head, stacked them in Iris. The head is becoming more diffuse as it moves away from the Sun, as is the tail. My modded 350D was used, no filters used.
Scott

[CometGuy]

2 From tonight. 17mm + 300D and 135mm + 350D.

Gallery with larger versions is at:

http://www.pbase.com/terrylovejoy/2006p1

Terry

[RB]

I love that shot Scott.

[tornado33]

Thanks Rocket Boy. Good pics on your site there too Terry. gee hasnt the comets character changed, a broad fantail with a small antitail (sunward). The head is now very green also, plenty of gas coming off now. Its such a pity the comet never gets high in the sky. It would be spactacular even though its fading if it was directly overhead under a dark sky.
Scott

[Rob_K]

Noticed McNaught tail was much more clearly visible before moon rose tonight - easy naked-eye "V" tail and big improvement on a couple of days ago. Head visible with averted vision (mind you, staring into camera LCD display does not help night vision!). BTW, some great photos posted tonight :thumbsup:.

Photo below is 7 15-sec exposures processed in Registax. Fujifilm Finepix S5500, 10x zoom, f3.1. Interesting in that it shows 'apparent' circular star trails around comet, but this is a result of the combination of field rotation over the few minutes I took to get the shots + the stacking process, centred on the comet head. Individual photos show parallel trails. Love the effect though!

Cheers -

[swannies1983]

hehe...i Just produced the same effect Rob! Second pic is a single frame

[cometcatcher]

Multipoint alignment in registax can compensate for field rotation.

[firstlight]

Just worked on some photos from the 21st.
Standing on the side of the road opposite Archerfield Aerodrome, with security lights from the hangers spointing straight at us... funny, didn't notice them the first night we were there.

First two were 75 mm, stack of 3 in Photoshop, about 5 secs each, and the last was 300, same stack and times.

Tony
23187

23188

23189

[Garyh]

Nice shots everyone!!! Nice image Scott and I like terrys wideangle shot...Seems like the dust tail goes all the way to the SMC..
Done some long exposure shots through my Tv genesis last night shall post shortly..
Cheers Gary

[loomberah]

I've just posted a couple of images taken last night, just after moonrise and before the comet sank into the bush fire smoke: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

cheers, Gordon

[Garyh]

Very nice Gordon!,:thumbsup:
Had all that smoke here as well but luckily it cleared up a bit by sunset.
Heres my go last night..Televue genesis, canon 300d,
stack of 5 images at 90 sec Df removed and processed in Ps.
The green of the head really stands out well now!
Cheers Gary...

[iceman]

Lovely images Gordon, Gary, Tony, Scott etc.

[Ric]

Lovely image Gary, I was trying for an image last night but was beaten by a cloud band that just hung around in that area. I could just make out a fuzzy blob before it fully dissapeared.

Curses foiled again

[MortonH]

Hi guys, last night I got my first look at McNaught since Jan 20. Lots of low cloud around Centennial Park. Struggled to find it at all then found the same small fuzzy blob that Ric mentions. Luckily I'd only carted out a pair of binos. In fact, if it wasn't for the bats dive-bombing me and then seeing the moon rise low in the other direction, it would have been a complete disappointment!

Morton

[psadams]

I found some awesome Mcnaught photos. Taken by John White from Port Lincoln, South Australia.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwhite/366649244/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwhite/366937321/in/photostream/

[circumpolar]

Look in the center between lightning & fireworks!

Explanation: Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. On January 26, people from Perth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth%2C_Western_Australia), Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia) gathered on a local beach to watch a sky (http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap050913.html) light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day) celebrations. On the far right, lightning (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lightning/) from a thunderstorm (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/thunderstorm/index.shtm) flashed in the distance. Near the image centre, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught (http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/ap070122.html). The photogenic comet (http://spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_mcnaught_page21.php) was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught continues to move out from the Sun and dim, but should remain visible in southern skies (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2006P1.html) with binoculars through the end of this month. The above image (http://jkemppainen.com/antti/) is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework (http://people.howstuffworks.com/fireworks.htm).

[tornado33]

Hi
Desparate to get deeper shots I got out a 20 year old Vixen refractor mount, with its electric drive , degreased and oiled it, set it up to carry Bert.s 300mm lens to do longer tracked but unguided shots
8x13 sec 300mm f2.8, from my back steps just looking over neighbours house. 300D unmodded camera for natural colours, darks, flats offsets processed in Iris. There was a gradient due to it being down low but the IRIS gradient removal worked quite well to remove it. Top of tree just visible lower right.
Scott

[Ric]

Great image Scott, it's turned out really superb.

Cheers

[h0ughy]

Well I tagged along with Scott tonight, but I ended up with very disappointing results. the light pollution and the crud in the atmosphere was terrible. Scott efforts were tracked on a eq mount he rebuilt for the occasion. He got an excellent result. My images were with a canon 350D and a 200mm L lens

[jjjnettie]

The comet was only a star point in the original pictures, but after drawing out the tail using level adjustments , I stacked 5 images to get this one.
Concidering the camera I'm using, I'm pretty chuffed.

[Garyh]

Great going Scott, houghy and jjjnettie.....
Was really clear sunset but then a horrible smokey haze and low cloud came from nowwhere blocking all but the brightest stars....
cheers Gary

[glenc]

Scott's image is similar to the view through 20x80s last night.

[tornado33]

Thanks all
The crud down low is making it difficult, I got it just as it was getting dark, in fact the first few images have some sky glow, the last few were darker but comet was dimmed by the crud and smoke. Oh to be able to see and image it under a dark and clear sky.
Scott

[alandee]

Checkout :
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0702/mcnaught3_kemppainen.jpg

Heh .. I should have looked back a page :)
Seems I'm not the only one who thought it was worthy of sharing ;)

Neat piccy though !!

[loomberah]

It was nice to see under a dark sky last night, I could see about 15 deg of tail, although I wasn't fully
dark adapted due to looking at the LCD screen of my camera every 30 sec or so.
The straight tail, which I assume is some sort of ion tail, is brightest in green light rather than blue, so its probably not a regular ion tail. The Sodium tail from a couple of weeks ago seems to have gone as there is no sign on it in red light now. Last night's pics here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

cheers, Gordon

[fringe_dweller]

your really really giving me a strong desire to live on top of a mountain range Gordon :thumbsup: :hi:

excellent sustained effort :eyepop:

[CoombellKid]

As in my 20x80's too!! it made a nice naked eye object again before the
moon came into play.

I was running between the bino's and my 8" f/6 newt wif a 20mm t5 in it. It
looked awesome. I like how the tail has spread out. Under the dark skies of
home I could see hints that the tail hasn't really mellowed at all. It can only
get better ;)

btw, I posted a observation note on a northern hemishpere list, and got no
reply... I kinda got the feeling they must be a lil green with envy :thumbsup: since
it really only started performing once we got it.

regards,CS

[Diamond Rose]

Gordon,

Those images from last night are brilliant. It was clear for me last night, but I could only barely see it with the naked-eye.

btw, Gordon, I think I met you around 20 years ago. I bought a 12.5 inch telescope that came with its own trailer from you up at Tamworth. I've still got it :)

~ Bruce

[Escortitis]

Hello people,
Greatly enjoying browsing your forums. I'm chompping at the bit for more of Gordans pics, of anything! Truely inspiring. Dad got some free-hand shots 'out the back' a few weeks ago in Perth. Where's Gordan live? I feel a 'seeing change' coming on.:thumbsup:

[loomberah]

Thanks all ;)



right here in Loomberah ;) I'm sure the Stirling Ranges offer similar clear dark skies!


cheers, Gordon
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah (http://www.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah)

[tornado33]

Hi
Heres an image taken back in Jan 15, middle of the day, a stack of 20 1/4000th sec shots ISO100, processed to keep inner detail , sky dark, and upsampled x2. The brightness of the inner coma is incredible, if sky was dark a moon filter would have been needed to stop being dazzled by it. Even against a bright hazy noon sky it was quite bright.
Scott

[Beetlejuice]

Hi All, here is my only pic of McNaught to date. Only a low res too. About to pop out and see how it looks before the moon comes up:)

[firstlight]

Lucky enough to be offered a ride to dark skies over the `Range for my first look in the dark. How cool is P1? Still putting on a great show. We saw quite easily10 to 15 deg of tail, despite the haze and the lights of a distant town (had to pick a spot with pollution towards comet-set :doh:. We were just east of Oakey.

Terry let me ride on his losmondy mount for some 160 sec shots.

There is a bit of distortion toward the sides from misalignment of the stack, but the singles have stars looking good to the edges. I'm pretty stoked by the result as I'm still only playing with processing and feeling my way. Lost some of the tail making the sky dark from the raw/tiff.

23301

[fringe_dweller]

went out to new unchartered dark sky site on me todd, got there a bit late unfortunately, so only had around half an hour before moon rise, and it sure was creepy and bull anst crawling over camera/ every where! :scared: , but i'm love with the new area/spot :love: . two 30 sec iso 1600 single shots no darks, and from hi-res jpg only at this stage, one using 50mm lens and other kit 18-55 @ 18 and f3.5 on tripod 350D

i could see the tail/sprays southern edge naked eye all the way to the small mag, 26 degrees away from head, before the moon rose and it sank closer to horizon - comas brightness was definately somewhere around 3.5 mag, tail seemed nearly as bright, very obvious - did have charts didnt get time to use em. in fact while driving earlier en route I glanced out window at area i knew it was in and it sprang out rather obviously and sharply! impressive still! moon was slightly up by the time i took the widefield and affected scene strongly

[h0ughy]

some lovely images there firstlight, yours too fringy!!!

[Garyh]

Nice shots guys,
I hope I get another chance to image the sucker!!!
cheers Gary

[auroradude]

Yea, I can't speak for all uf us stuck up here but green with envy might be an apt description.
I want to thank each and every one of you who have posted images to share this remarkable comet with those of us who have lost it from our skies.
It was probably after all your turn as we had Hale-Bopp and Hayakutake at their best. In fact each of those great comets were circumpolar so we could watch them all night.
Anyhow,
Thanks again for the virtual show!:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

Yes thats right, we weren't in the box seat for those:P but I do envy you the aurora's, I would love to see those:thumbsup: . Did you get any pictures of the comet before it left your neck of the woods?

[auroradude]

Indeed I did take some shots of the comet before it headed south in during the first week of January. It had not occurred to me how bright this comet was going to be and it was my brother who spotted it one morning and called wondering if there was a comet in the southeastern sky. I was pretty amazed at how bright it was against the strong twilight and was able to take a few shots with a Pentax 67 and 300mm lens. I also took shots with this camera the following two evenings and the next morning. I also tried some shots on 4x5 but it was so cold in the morning that there were mechanical problems with the cameras so I don't know what to expect. I also spotted it during the daylight one day but it was only about 7 degrees high in the south and a very difficult object.
No, I havn't had the film processed yet but plan to drive up to Anchorage (about 350km. in the next couple days to have it done.

[h0ughy]

Looking forward to the result;) :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

cheers Houghy! :)
auroradude thanks too! you guys had the best of Comet West in 1976 also i believe, the last that favoured us? was C/1969 Y1 Bennett in 1970 methinks? altho that might of been an equatorial number hhmmm -
its funny how many people here mix up comet west with bennett, due to west being famous coz it was a NH object -
funny story during HBs time, we had maps in the paper that were for NH only! showing us were to look - outrageous!

[Outbackmanyep]

Hey everyone!

Heres my pic i took when the moon was waxing crescent, got my pics developed and this is one of 4 that i have scanned so far....
Since i had 15 feet of shutter release cable i decided to hop in the pic as well to give a bit of scale to the image....
Of course im a little blurred cos of the long exposure....

Used a Minolta 7000 AF on tripod, 50mm f/4.5, 30 sec exposure with 800 ISO.....
The quality of the image is due to the scanner, i have a dirty screen on the underside of the glass and have no way to take the thing apart to clean it!

Note the aeroplane trail through the image, i live under a flight path as it turns out so they're quite common!

Cheers!:D

[RB]

Wow great shots fringy & firstlight.

Nicely composed too.

:thumbsup:

[RB]

Another great shot !

Well done OBMyep!

[fringe_dweller]

TY Andrew! Yes i love firstlights deeper shot - awesome
also I agree with RB, now your cooking with gas OBMY!

[Grinz]

Fringe & Firstlight,

Really like your pics a lot.
Don't be cross with me: I downloaded 2 of your pics and played a bit with the brightness & contrast and found in the case of Fringe's pic that you also captured the ion tail (faint but definitely there!) and that First's pic also contains a lot more detail.
Just minor adjustments. Again, hope you don't mind - see it as a sign of how much I liked them

[firstlight]

Thanks for the compliments... nice to be appreciated... and also to succeed! All the shots that have been posted have been great. I had been a bit jealous of you guys when the clouds hid the comet until the 18th, then WOW!

Earthlight used our camera and got some great shots until the 21st, when I was able to wrench it from her to get a few shots of my own. If I was not on-call that week-end, there was no way that we would have stayed in Brisbane... we would have packed the kids and tent and gone to Leyburn and dark skies.

[fringe_dweller]

nice job Grinz, dont mind at all mate :) , in fact your very very eagle eyed!!! didnt see that last night! but was a bit tired tho - anyway i thank ye for teasing that out of it!
I have never owned an f1.4 anything before? the 50mm is an amazing light/photon hoover! I always loved the old megafast film 'schmidt camera's' (popular and elite comet-imaging set up from the past) and there ridiculous f ratios :), reminds me of them,.. well kinda ;)

[auroradude]

I can remember comet Bennett. I was 9 or 10 years old at the time living in Livingston, Montana at about 45 degrees north latitude. It was in the early morning eastern sky. I used my dad's 35mm camera pressed against a window to try and get shots of it.
Then a funny thing occurred: Comet Kohotek. I guess it was because of all the interest in Bennett that people got real excited that another "great" comet was coming. It was really hyped in the media. Then it turned out to be a "dud". Then; West was coming, the astronomy community said "now this is really going to be a nice one" but the media wasn't listening. They said "yea, right. We remember the last time you said that. (Kohotek)" So West received very little press and was quite a surprise for many!:D
BTW; You're all invited to come and see the northern lights any time you like!:welcome:

[Garyh]

auroradude, I would love to see a real Aurora...I put that on my must do list!!! before I get too old..:lol:

Well being bleak and cloudy weather everynight since sunday I reprocessed 2 images from the 4th feb before the moon had risen too high.
First is a closeup crop of 3x60sec with only a little processing and the other is 5x90sec. Both taken with a televue genesis..
Cheers and hope for some clear skies soon ;)
Gary

[firstlight]

Here is one of of the single shots from Teusday night. Bit grainy, but you can see a meteor coming from the south to outside the frame in the upper right.
23339

[fringe_dweller]

here is a comprehensive rundown of bright comets from the '70s and how they looked from southern australia (western australia) and their ratings

http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/faculty/~mclark/public_html/c1970.htm#19702


Ooooo more wicked shots Gary and Firstlight!! :) very, very nice!!

[Garyh]

Hi again everyone.....:hi:
Well after nearly a week of not seeing mcnaught I finally got a quick glimpse after the storms and showers cleared last night. Still some low cloud that wouldn`t move but managed 2 images. could still see it naked eye as a fuzzy blob with a upward haze of the tail..sure has faded alot now...
Details..
single image 3min @ iso 800 50mm @f/2.8
Df removed and a bit of processing in Ps..
cheers Gary....:thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

We got lucky tonight, beautiful clear skies until the sun went down and then the cloud started to move in. :lol: Sound familiar :lol: Managed to snap off half a dozen shots, this one being one of the better one. Even managed to catch a meteor shooting through the scene to the left. Getting very faint now though still an easy target with the 10x50 binos

Details:
Taken from the Mapleton SS Observatory
10-02-07 19:36 EST
Canon300D, 50mm FL@f/2.2. 30 sec exp, ISO400
Cropped and curved in PS.

[Dennis]

Nice one Paul - glad you managed to thwart the clouds! I haven’t seen the comet for a while but it still looks quite impressive. I set up last night but we got deluged with really heavy showers. Lucky my observing hutch and Scopestuff covers are waterproof.

Cheers

Dennis

[auroradude]

Finally! I have had some film processed and have posted the first image. This one is from the morning of January 9, 2007 Taken from near Homer, Alaska.
I used a 4x5 camera with a 300mm lens and Fuji RVP100F film for a two-second exposure in strong twilight.
Here's the link to the image: http://www.spacew.com/gallery/image005585.html
There will be a few more as I find time to scan and post.

[loomberah]

I've not been able to post for a few days due to my password not being accepted... very strange.
Anyway, I've posted a new image from 9th Feb showing both Magellanic Clouds and the comet here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

A very long exposure last night with a fisheye lens after the coma had set barely shows the tail at all so I'm not posting it, but will try again tonight if the storm clouds allow me a look earlier.

cheers, Gordon

[badabing82]

sorry guys i have been away this was taken in on the usin a digital camera and yes with a fish eye lens fireworks where at hillary's boat harbour it's not the sky works in the city it was actually a mate of mine and his mate they where their for australia day not to sure what camera he used all i know it was about 3k worth. hope this helps will ask him next when i see him

[badabing82]

Sorry guys and to just add the guy had no intrest in astronomy he was actually takin a photo of the fireworks and it was a fluke hahaha my mate's name is karol stawarz and his mate i the one that took the photo

[CometGuy]

Gordon,

Thats nearly 25 degrees of tail you captured on Feb 9, very impressive! Sort of reminds me of Halley in mid-late April, 1986, when it had that very faint but long dust tail.

Talking about Halley, just reorganising my study and came across some real gems including your March 8, 1986, shot of Halley. I've got no details on the photo (I assume its techpan) but its one of the best!

Cheers,
Terry

[loomberah]

Hi Terry, if its B&W yes it would be my hypered TP2415. I'd have my log books floating around at home somewhere, if I come across it I'll send you lens, exposure details etc.

cheers, Gordon

[h0ughy]

awesome shot Gordon!!!!!!!! Ohhh to have dark skies and a good mount........

[Vol]

Been awhile since I last posted, anyways, on Australia Day I was up at Charlottes Pass, in the Snowy Mountains (can't get much higher!), and I took the following pictures. I've linked them off site because they are big. Unfortunately the moon was bright and kinda killed the tail a little, but it was still really cool :)

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8031/p1020097rj0.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9026/p1020098gt2.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2277/p1020102ji2.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/2840/p1020104ie6.jpg

[fringe_dweller]

getting faint now for sure, maybe dimmer than mag 4 easily, but we could still see the pointed broad tail faintly stretch up to alongside the SMC at times NE, and with averted vision even better again, from a dark location. We did have bad conditions come in (low fog?), but our early looks were very good, took to long to get started, early shots all film but took a few long guided exposres with the 350D 18-55 kit lens at 18 - this one 313 secs - can see very faint smoky streak of the tail coming up from the horizon towards the smc,- taken after midnight when comet was low in the horizon muck/fog?, and we couldnt see it with the naked eye by this stage, but it turned up in image slightly

[Garyh]

Great shots Gordon!!, Kearne and Vol...
Heres my go last night.
Like usual it looked like it might be clear but by 9.pm low cloud rolled in and down came the rain. Went inside for a cuppa and decided to go out and have a look as it had stopped raining...A big cloud free gap coming my way....:)
Quickly set up again and managed 2 images before the clouds and rain came back to visit...
This pic is 120sec at iso 800, 50mm @f/2.8. Df removed and processed in PS. Took a bit of processing to get rid of the skyglow/light pollution low down. But happy with the result...Now only if I can get a bunch to stack!!!
Cheers Gary...

[badabing82]

I think the award for most impressive shot goes to gordon how sharp and detailed are those images damn hahahah

[fringe_dweller]

I'm loving your daily images Gary, impressive :thumbsup: and all so close to horizon yikes! :eyepop: how ya doing that!!?? and (if possible) keep 'em comin', please! :)

For me and my friends, getting good images is always only runs a close second to 'coppin' an eyefull' of these amazing objects from under dark skies, and always has been (luckily ;) )- great images are always the icing on the cake/bonus ;)
wish could download visual images/atmosphere from the ol grey matter :D

[MortonH]

Jeez, with all this rubbish weather and a seemingly never-ending list of commitments that are preventing me from getting out of the city, I'm not sure I'm even going to see the comet again, let alone get any more images of it. :sadeyes:

Oh well, thanks to everyone else who is still taking great shots. At least I've got my pictures from Jan 20. I've backed them up more times than any other pictures I've ever taken!


Morton

[auroradude]

It's not much compared to what you folks under the southern skies were able to see but it was exciting none-the-less to see such a bright comet in our sky even for the short time we could see it.

Here's an image from the first morning that I saw it on January 8.

http://www.spacew.com/gallery/image005590.html

Beautiful morning... and by the way... what's that in the sky!!? ;)

[fringe_dweller]

Very Lovely image Dennis :) that'll make an awesome print i would wager :thumbsup: love the large format stuff!
wonder if we'll ever see another daylight/twilight comet anytime soon - wish they were a bit more regular :rolleyes: i guess you'll have to settle for freakin awesome aurorae you guys get there :eyepop:

You got the best night for sure Morton, and i know what you mean regarding backups - i got back ups of back ups of backups lol!

[astroron]

Here is a shot I have scanned, it is a bit grainy as the film is 800 Iso, only just got them back from the developer.

[h0ughy]

nice one Ron

[firstlight]

great shot Ron, here is one I took on the 22nd near Kholo Crossing. I can sure pick where to get the best light pollution:). It is probably the best I'v taken of the tail. About 2 1/2 minutes, on a tripod, f 3.5, 18 mm, ISO 1600.
23516

[astroron]

This ones should have been first:rolleyes:

[Grinz]

Great new pictures, all!
Gordon - just love that lightning picture too.
Gary, I agree I have also become used to your daily McNaught pic and always enjoy them.

[Vol]

Can we still see the comet? I've been looking but I haven't seen it?

[Garyh]

Lovely shot dennis, very scenic!! and everyone else, good shots too!...
Thanks for the comments, been totally clouded out the past few days with lots of rain..so no pics from me..maybe tonight?
It should be still visible unaided Vol but I havn`t seen it for 2 days now..was still easy to spot on the 11th...
Cheers Gary

[Garyh]

Thought I post a pic anyways...:)
Only decided yesterday to give it some processing..some levels,brightness and contrast..
from the 18th jan with televue genesis.
details...4 sec @ iso 100, canon 300d, picture has been cropped slightly..
Cheers Gary

[jjjnettie]

Ron,
Those photos turned out great!
Unforgettable evening that one. We were so awestruck with the beauty of it. Torn between photographing the comet, observing it through binos or just taking in the display visually. Because if you were doing one, you couldn't do the others. What an evening! Thanks you guys (Ron and Paul), it wouldn't have been the same if I saw it on my own.

[astroron]

:hi: Jeanette, thats the joys of observing with people of like mind:) and as this Comet is probably a once in a few decades object it will be something to remember.:) :)
It was great to be a part of something that you enjoyed so much:thumbsup: Ron

[astroron]

Here is a couple more Reduced to get them on the same page:thumbsup:

[Garyh]

Hi everyone again...
Well a clear sky at last with just a few clouds here and there.:clap:..it`s been awhile since I have seen so many stars.
Decided to do some telescope shots then some wideangle piggyback shots as well.
Heres one shot from last night just before the comet set behind the mountain..
Details 18mm @f/3.5 350sec at iso 400 Df removed. some PS processing.
Done some morning shots as well..shall post later..
Comet still visible naked eye but rather dim now and it helps to know where it is!!
Cheers Gary

[astroron]

:hi: Gary, great shot :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Awesome shot Gary.. gee it's getting faint now.

[RB]

Fantastic shot Gary.
I love it.

:thumbsup:

[Garyh]

thanks Astroron, Mike and Andrew!!
Have been after some nice wide shots since the 3rd feb but those clouds wouldn`t go away. Was very clear up here last night which helps alot..
Cheers Gary

[Garyh]

heres the morning shot, same details as the previous image...
was suprised by how high it was in the morning sky...was some light mist but didn`t come out too bad.
Cheers Gary

[iceman]

Way cool, Gary! Some of the best shots of it i've seen lately.

[janoskiss]

wow the comet that keeps on giving! :)
your shots with the MCs and MW are awsome Gary!

[Tesladownunder]

I know you guys have seen a thousand comet pics. Here is mine. I took a lot of time to compose this. It is one of the only ones I have seen with a reasonable comet fan and the moon but also including a person in the foreground. 3 minute exposure so star trails are pretty long.
It got featured in our local paper.

Tesladownunder (Astro-noOb)

http://tesladownunder.com/CometChrisMoon640.jpg

[PeteMo]

Absolutely awesome pics all round.
Gary the back ground sky is fantastic!
Tesladownunder, that is an unusual pic! How did you get Chris to stay still for 3 minutes?
Thanks for posting.

[Tesladownunder]

LOL. This is the usual question with this photo. He is, however, a teenager. The problem is usually getting them to move rather than the opposite!
Actually the threat of having to do it again helped.

It was quite funny really. After an hour of setup, trial shots etc on a grassy sloped lookout path I was about to take THE shot when the automatic sprinklers came on all around us. I had to grab the camera and bag and scamper to safety. After I disabled the relevant sprinkler, I was able to set up again and shoot. I didn't get the levelling right though as you can't see anything apart from the moon in the viewfinder. It is only a ?1/8 crescent moon but looks full due to the saturation and 3 mins worth of movement blur. The street lights were sodium lights so there is a yellow cast to the picture and sky. Easy to white balance out but I don't really like modifications of pictures.

Tesladownunder

[h0ughy]

Fantastic shot Tesladownunder

[jjjnettie]

These pics are getting betterer all the time.

[Zubenel]

Hi Ron ,
Your photos were better than mine as the comet was still high so too much light in the sky. So could only see a very small tail against a bright sky. I think the treat of clouds cut us off! cheers Zub

[[1ponders]]

They are still coming on strong. Nice to see everyone is making the most of this fabulous spectacle.

[erick]

Just as I saw it at 5am this morning from somewhere near Mittagong - through 20x80 bins - lovely!

[astroron]

:thumbsup: Wes have got quite a few shots with good tails but they are so grainy, I think it was the developer using the wrong processing:shrug:

[John K]

Still naken eye and now looking every bit a "dirty snow ball". Looked great in my 12.5" with 32mm Plossl.

Taken from Terrick Terrick NP 250 kms north of Melbourne.

Widefield:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/393609986/


Prime focus of 12.5"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/393609988/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/393609987/

[h0ughy]

gee its getting fainter? Nice shots

[CometGuy]

This is 6 x 30 second stack from tonight greatly contrast stretched. Modified 300D + Sigma 17-70 lens set at f2.8 + ISO400 mounted on tripod and individual frames aligned using IRIS. Light pollution gradient also removed in IRIS, then I cropped image and converted to B+W. Note the faintest extension of the tail curves up to the SMC in the left hand upper corner. Thats 20 degrees still! Coma estimated as mag 5.1 in binoculars so its still got a bit of life left in it.

[DobDobDob]

Where is the comet now? Can I still see it with binoculars or is it too faint already?

[ballaratdragons]

Was easy to see last night still. (naked eye)

It is below the SMC.

[DobDobDob]

Thank you ;)

[erick]

Yes, but only "in the Dark at Snake Valley" :sadeyes:

Tailwag, try getting up early and looking south around 5am. With the 20x80s you'll have no trouble - look for the line up of LMC, SMC, 47Tuc and Comet from right to left, like in Garyh's photo below.

[iceman]

Excelletn shots John!

[DobDobDob]

Oop's too late :( last night was 100% full cloud cover in Sydney and today I woke up at 6.30 am and it was already cloudy and too late. I'll try again tomorrow ;) Btw, erick, I made some neat dew shields for the bins, and today I'm going to investigate purchasing some self adhesive felt to line the inside of them. I made them yesterday but haven't used them yet.

[CometGuy]

Did anyone make any deep ultrawide shots during the first half of February? There have been some reports of very long tail lengths at that time (i.e 80 degrees). Gordon??

Terry

[loomberah]

Not me, just the ones I have posted. Playing with the contrast I can see no sign of the tail extending much past the SMC on the 500 sec exposure 9th Feb image posted on my C/McNaught web page. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)
That would be about my deepest image from around that time...well except for the 24 minute fisheye exposure on the 11th which I hadn't bothered to post as the tail wasn't very bright or obvious. The coma is lost in the murk on the horizon, but even with a ridiculous amount of playing with the contrast, the tail does not really extend beyond the SMC.

cheers, Gordon

[loomberah]

OK, due to the huge demand ;) I just posted the fisheye image from 11th Feb here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

As you can see the tail is rather faint, and by no stretch of my imagination can I see it extending above the SMC

cheers, Gordon

[Garyh]

Still a great shot gordon!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbs up:
Here`s my last goes at the comet over the weekend. The last few nights have been crystal clear and mcnaught is still visible naked eye, but you have to look real hard!!
1st one is through tv genesis, 5x2min iso 800
2nd 50mm @ f/2.8 300 sec iso 400...(morning shot)
3rd 18mm @ f4 360 sec iso 400

Its still a interesting comet, the tail is always changing though getting faint....I don`t know why I am not seeing more closeup shots?
Cheers Gary:thumbsup:

[Ric]

Hi Gary, I have been trying to get some close ups through the 12" but I has been constantly clouded out.
Very frustrating to say the least.

Cheers

[fringe_dweller]

fantastic work everybody :2thumbs: :2thumbs: love yours Ron :) awesome!

You continue to astound and entertain me with your shots Gary! :prey2: love the sideways view - looks like its trying to get away!! ;) and the close up well all i can say is ..WOW!
you must have some decent elevation (as well as the dark skies) I am wildly assuming, you horizons dont suffer from the dreaded murk as much as most ppl? - I noticed elevated sites offered the best views at around this time, as most of the low lying lands suffered from the murk/muck unfortunately
..so the question is, are you taking on interstate elevation deprived refugees as boarders? need any fencing or some kind of work around the place? :D

[fringe_dweller]

Terry, i also stretched our shot from the 11th and all that, and couldnt see any tail longer than the obvious 23 d or so tail that gordon imaged, and we saw NE, altho still havent scanned film shots yet, they may need reprinting anyhoo *sigh*

[fringe_dweller]

finally starting to go back thru hundreds of shots, converting RAWs ect. had a quick but proper go at the stitched-panorama project of comet on night of 22nd jan, did this one in PS photomerge actions thingy, but mine only allows you do it in 8 bit tiffs, so have to use another program, and get rid of the faulty chip's vertical pin striping with IRIS hopefully oneday.
it was easier to use just 4 individual 10 sec, iso 400, 50mm f1.4 @ 1.4 350D shots, than all 5 to stitch this up.
- tail covers about 40d in the azimuth :-)
may be the only multiple stitched panorama (of solely the tail) out there? LOL! :P :screwy: :nerd:

[RB]

Fantastic Fringy, great work mate !

:eyepop:

[fringe_dweller]

Cheers Andrew! :)
i might get that large print of whole-ish tail that goes 'straight to the pool room' yet! ;) :prey: :lol:

[Outbackmanyep]

Hi Terry!

http://astronews.uai.it/pg/collage_striae_C2006P1.JPG

Thats a collage of the comet and tail and a little bit more on the particle development of the tail....

Cheers!

[raya]

Finally submitting my first post.
Here is a link to my photographic efforts of Comet McNaught.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~raya/page11.htm

[Garyh]

I havn`t looked at this thread for a while, so have missed out on the last comments....thanks for the comments Kearn!! I don`t live up very high but I have a fairly dark sky site. when mcnaught was a bit brighter I took my gear to different vantage points maybe 200m above the flats for a clean horizon. but the last 2 lots I posted was done from the backyard.
By the way great widefield there Kearn!!!! sure will make a good poster..
Took some images last week...I might just post one!!!!, have to keep this thread goinn a bit longer!!
Hope you get some closeups still Ric!!!
Cheers Gary

[Garyh]

Nice shots Raya there!!!:thumbsup:
Ok another closeup from 21st with Tv genesis, stack of 7 images at 3 min each at iso 800..
Dust tail is very faint on the original side and the anti-tail is larger and fainter, but now the gas (ion) tail is much more easier to see without the dust hiding it.. I have some later images but still hav`nt processed them..
Its gettin real hard to see now, sighted it the other day before the clouds came over and could just see it using adverted vision..
Cheers Gary....:thumbsup:

[Ric]

Hi Gary, nice image love the green coming through in it.
I hope I get a chance as well for a few more images with the 12", it's just these pesky clouds that wont go away

Cheers

[h0ughy]

mice shot there Gary. I almost have my setup all I need is my new camera to give this a go.

[ballaratdragons]

hmmmm, McN is still giving great images! Good stuff Gary.

Never mind how spectacular it used to look, it still looks great now!

[fringe_dweller]

yes really nice collection of shots raya! :) the 20th jan wide angles remind me of the views we had - we had similar conditions :rolleyes: (except maybe for the LP) and welcome! great first post! :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

cheers for info Gary! :) , wow you must have awesome skies there dude, to do that without elevation or with only a little - thats the kind of backyard i would like one day ;)

another ripper close-up from ya there mate, in a long line of beauties i must say! thanks for the visual updates to! appreciate it,
also for nice comments thankyou :-))
I agree, lets see if this thread can do 50 000 hits!!! :lol: well 41 000 is nice too - must be the record for IIS sooo easily should stand for quite a while too? till the next such event?

[raya]

Thanks for the encouraging comments.

[Garyh]

Thanks everyone for the comments....:thumbsup:, I`ll keep posting a pic or two as long as the weather is on my side...;) and when the moon is out of the way again.
Yeah lets go for 50,000 hits....:D
I reckon this post has some of the best pics of the comet I have seen and many have made it into the gallery at Spacewatch etc..
Lets keep the ball rolling...lol.
Cheers and CS
Gary