Comet Lovejoy 22-12-11

[Lester]

Hi all, I should have got up earlier, as 10 second exposure was as long as I could go without over exposing the horizon. Shot with canon 20Da and 50mm lens at F3.2 and ISO 800. Wonderful to see such a large tailed comet after many years.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Lester_045/Comet%20images/3c42bb38.jpg

darker image

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Lester_045/Comet%20images/330e764c.jpg

[von Tom]

Wonderful!

[iceman]

Stunning Lester!

You guys in SA had some great skies.

[swannies1983]

Makes up for the fact that we missed out on the lunar eclipse :P

Great shots Lester.

[astronobob]

Brilliant Lester, dig them colours heaps, beauty's :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Straighten that horizon on the first image and it's a stunner, Lester!

[Liz]

Love the darker image, well done Lester. :thumbsup:

[Outbackmanyep]

Love it! What an awesome sight! :)

[Lester]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

Mike thanks for the tip, here it is straightened.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Lester_045/Comet%20images/907a7835.jpg

[spacezebra]

Awesome Lester!!!

Cheers Petra d.

[Shiraz]

Cracker images Lester. Regards Ray

[Osprey]

Just one word... WOW!!! :D

[Lester]

Thanks for your comments Petra, Ray and Osprey.
Hoping to get up earlier tomorrow morning to get more of the tail structure before the horizon lightens too much limiting time exposure.
All the best.

[Rigel003]

Beautiful image, Lester. Love the elevated vantage point and the water scene below.

[astroron]

Nice Lester, I am going for a drive tomorrow morning ,weather permitting to get a look at this one :)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Nice going Lester, I really like the scale of these images. I would like to know how you got stars in the ocean though?;)

[jjjnettie]

:D Beautiful!!
Was the image cropped?

[Lester]

Thanks for the comments everyone as always.

Fishing boats or bouys in the sea that don't track with the R.A drive.

JJ the last image was cropped where the horizon is square with the edge of the image. The others are not.

All the best.

[Troy]

nice images. It must have been a great sight.

[hotspur]

WOW!

Is this comet visible from QLD?

(if we ever had no clouds)

[Lester]

Thanks Troy and Chris for your comments. Hope the clouds clear for you soon Chris. I have tried to paint out the lights in the sea that trailed during the time exposure.

http://i638.photobucket.com/albums/uu109/Lester_045/Comet%20images/dbae42d0.jpg

[Clayton]

Beautiful Lester:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Analog6]

MY feeling precisely. I am going to be getting up nice and early every morning to check. Whereabouts are you - maybe we could meet up?

And a question - I want ti have a go at this with my H2, but highest ASA is 800 and it is quite noisy. Advice on how long an exposure I should give for the various ISO speed (100/200/400/800). I can go down to f3.5 if I am using my wide angle zoom lens.

I'm thinking I'll start out at 800 and work down ISOs as the dawn comes up.

I know that when I did the planetary/moon conjunctions earlier this year I could not get any stars to show up, and they are what makes the images so spectacular.

Any advice most appreciated.

[Matt Wastell]

Great stuff Lester! I am so keen to see this but Brisbane clouds are a pain!

[Lester]

Thanks Rob, Odille and Matt for your comments. I hope you all get a good view of this comet the second best I have seen to Mc Naught.

Odille try different ISO settings as different cameras perform differently. I would start with 10 second exposure. If you have not got a tracking mount you are limited, as longer exposures will just blur the comet more. Wide field is good, to minimise drift during exposure and at widest field of view you may be able to use 20-30 seconds.

Hope that makes sense. All the best.

[Analog6]

Thanks Lester. Cloudy again this morning, I may go for a drive tomorrow night to see if I can get clear of the cloud cover.

[OICURMT]

Too popular of a photo... bandwidth exceeded... :(

[Lester]

Yes, had over 1,000 viewing yesterday and that was too much for the free version of Photobucket. I have just paid for the Pro version and all is working okay now.

[Analog6]

It's just gorgeous. I got up at 1.30am and drove down to Hastings Point where I saw the comet but the photo taking was a big flop. Nice star field shots but way too noisy when exposure pushed enough in PP to see the comet. The price for giving up 35mm so I could go med format for my landscapes.

I wish there were some good images on RedBubble so I could buy a few cards, only Mike has one up and it is a bit cloudy.