C/2024 G3 ATLAS from Mundi Mundi lookout 25-01-2025

[kinetic]

Hi all,

Here is my set from far western NSW on the night of the 25th Jan,
from Mad Max country :)
Proving dark skies are king for comets !!
I'm amazed by the tail structure I captured. Better than anything I've got from Adelaide so far.
The 1st pic is a 30 sec set x 27 frames. That's the horizon at bottom left.


QHY8 cooled camera / HEQ5 / NIKON nifty 50 @ f/2.8

2nd pic is a 60 sec set x 10 frames, stacked. in negative.
3rd pic of sunset. Trap is set. Waiting.....

4th pic. A single 60 sec frame, debayered/ extremely stretched, showing the satellites!
So many! I tend to forget how stacking makes these disappear, which is mostly a good thing for us!

PS: nice meeting you Chris , if you see this. Great chat :)



Steve B.

[Crater101]

I know that lookout! Been several years since I was in that neck of the woods - I envy you the dark skies.


That's a nice result in that first image, neat work. It's interesting to see how many satellites are in the sky in that last one. Cheers!

[OzEclipse]

Great work Steve. Excellent tail details!

Well done.

Joe




Warren,
Why the dark sky envy? You have equally dark western skies just a bit outside to the west or south of Bathurst? I would suggest heading down the Trunkey Rd south of Bathurst to Caloola (30km south of Bathurst). There's a big gravel area just off the main road leading to the church. That gravel area has clear views to the west and southwest horizons.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nCMGnGAQuXGPU4QF9

You might have to contend with lights from occasional passing traffic but you should get excellent views from there.

You don't need a telescope, it's best viewed with a pair of binoculars. Although I have been using a small tracker for my imaging, it can easily be captured with a camera on fixed tripod. I had friends staying this past weekend.

Two of them were using fixed tripods and obtained excellent results.
See:-
https://tinyurl.com/2purpxd6

regards

Joe

[kinetic]

Warren, thank you. Always good for the soul, that place. The people that leave straight after sunset always miss the best bit.




Thank you Joe for your words, I've always admired your work:thumbsup:

Steve

[Crater101]

Hi Joe;
We recently moved to the western edge of Bathurst, and there's light industry - with the accompanying advertising lighting, spot lights, etc. - everywhere. :rolleyes: I've been scouting a few darker areas to travel to (I'm familiar with Caloola, Trunkey Creek, and even places like Dunkeld) but I miss being able to setup in the back yard without travelling.
I lived in Broken Hill as a younger man, and I do miss the darkness out there.

[OzEclipse]

Although I can set up in my Bortle 2 backyard, living on the east side of a hill, those low western evening comets are out of view. I have great views from north through east to south. I have a quiet country lane 6km away that I use for such observations. All in all, I prefer being able to do the all night auroras in the south and predawn comets in the east from home and only have to travel to my offsite for the evening comets. Due to cloud last Wednesday, I drove 70km NW of here to avoid cloud. I even considered a 250km drive last Tuesday to avoid cloud but decided against that.

We do what we have to. Having flown to various international destinations including Libya, Svalbard, Zambia, Argentina and Bolivia for various solar eclipses, a 5-50km drive doesn’t seem too much.

Joe

[kinetic]

I love Siril!


I must have watched every Siril processing tutorial ever made by
now.....:sadeyes::lol:


A bit more squeezed from the 25th Jan set.
Better colour now too. Asinh curves for me are destructive if wrong, even though the consensus is "no data is clipped or lost" :shrug:


Always learning.


Steve

[gregbradley]

Great shot Steve.

Greg

[erick]

Very pretty Steve. :thumbsup:
Eric

[kinetic]

thank you Eric and Greg,


Steve