Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN Tue 5th May

[Phil Hart]

Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN on morning of Tue 5th May ☄️. 24 mins total exposure with 300mm lens and QHY367C camera (CMOS OSC). Field is ~7 degrees wide.

Been capturing images fairly productively in iso 🔭, but much less keen on image processing after long days at the same desk. Day off today provided some inspiration to catch up on this one.. at this rate I'll clear the backlog if the pandemic lasts until 2023 😷.

Alert for the purists.. many pixels were harmed in the processing of this image. 📽 🧐

https://philhart.smugmug.com/CometsAndMeteors/Comets/i-fxsKBsK

Processing of this one has taken a few iterations with small bursts of inspiration in the weeks since I captured it. I tried Linear Fit integration of images aligned on the comet as Rogelio Bernal Andreo describes in his latest PixInsight eBook. But I ended up doing a batch StarNet++ process in PI to generate a starless version of each sub-exposure and then integrated those. It's a bit like what Damian Peach does in his video series which I watched this morning via Patreon (he uses other software though). I took a tip from him and added the coma in from a less heavily stretched image and a bit of StarSpikes plugin to restore some colour and punch to the stars.

Phil

[Peter Ward]

I looked at this puppy way too late in the piece, with a token effort from the 'burbs that was rubbish.

That's a great result Phil.

Nicely done :thumbsup:

[Phil Hart]

Thanks Peter.. I very nearly missed it too. Monday 4th morning was cloudy but would have been a disaster as the imaging gear wasn't ready and wouldn't have come together in the short window available (especially with 4am brain in slow gear). Luckily Tuesday worked out with a bit of rehearsal and testing on Monday evening. Still think it was brighter a day or two earlier and out of zodiacal light but happy to have been able to tease this out of what I captured.

Phil

[Retrograde]

Wow - so much of the tail in this. Great work!

[RB]

That's stunning my friend.
I always love your images mate.

RB

:)

[Tulloch]

Excellent image, fantastic work :)

[multiweb]

As commented somewhere else great catch Phil :thumbsup:

[Scorpius51]

Wow! That is excellent.

I’ve been trying to view this comet over the last week or two without success. Probably left it a bit late.

[Phil Hart]

Thanks all.. appreciate the comments. Always gratifying to get positive comments on something you've struggled with!



Definitely a bit late now for this one! :P