Comet Lovejoy up close

[rat156]

Hi All,

Well, I'm nothing if not stubborn.

I have tried over the last few weeks to get an image of the comet with my scope, without any joy, just couldn't find it.

I tried to get an image of Comet Lovejoy on 16 Jan using the RC10C, success!

Five minutes binned 2x2 using an STL11000M camera and I finally saw the tail moving between exposures, a quick rejig of the framing, got the Paramount MX tracking on the comet, 20 subs and a bit of work in Photoshop et al.

So these are 100 minutes of total exposure, as you can see from the image with the star trails, my polar alignment is still a little off (which I was trying to get right earlier in the night) as there is a little field rotation (or the comet is tracking a curved path). After blitzing the startrails with a sigma combine function the image has cleaned up OK.

Images at http://www.siriuscybernetics.org.au/Siriuscybernetics/Lovejoy120116.html

Cheers
Stuart

[Clayton]

Well caught Stuart :)

[Ross G]

Hi Stuart,

An amazing capture.

Well done.


Ross.

[gregbradley]

Good job Stuart.

Greg.

[tornado33]

Clever idia using binned subs to work out how fast and what direction the comet is moving, then setting the mount to do the deed. Strange how theres no central condensation at all
Scott

[rat156]

Yeah, clever idea, but not mine!

The Paramount MX will track comets out of the box. You just ask it to track at a custom rate and it asks if you would like to track the comet. I assume it'll do the same for satellites...

Because it's tracking in both axes I think I am getting field rotation, rather than my polar alignment being off.

Cheers
Stuart