Three faint comets.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi,
Thought I'd give some faint comets a go last night 12-06-2012.
The magnitudes listed are from guide 8.
1. Comet Garrard C/2009 P1. in Cnc. mag 10.9
2. Comet Loneos C/2006 S3. in Oph. mag 12.2
3. Comet McNaught C/2009 F4. in Dor. mag 14.3.
Comet Garrard has been a consistent performer, imaged it back in September 2011 and I wanted to image it one more time. The galaxy in the field is UGC 4740 mag 14.8.
Comet Loneos, shows a well defined nucleus and sporting a small tail.
Comet McNaught was a real surprise at mag 14.3, I was happy to get anything, this even shows a small tail.
All images are at ISO 1600 5 x 120 sec exposures, no auto guiding.
Telescope 8" f/4 astrograph on a HEQ Pro 5 mount.
Unmodded Canon 1100D at ISO 1600
5 x120 sec subs ISO 1600
Stacked in DSS and post process in Phototshop.
Cheers,

Justin.

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

Nice captures.
I always like comet shots.

Garrard was the first comet I have seen through a telescope, nice to know it's still kicking around.

[Lester]

Good on ya Justin. Always good to see some comets with short tails. Thanks.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Cool.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Thanks Jarrard, Lester and jj.

Originally Posted by JB80

Nice captures.
I always like comet shots.

Garrard was the first comet I have seen through a telescope, nice to know it's still kicking around.

Something you always remeber, the first view of a comet. Mine was Halley's comet.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Thanks for these pics - impressive!

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Great shots. I should be watching out for these also.

[Liz]

Well done Justin!!! Keep meaning to catch Comet Garradd before it fades away, it has been a great comet, and have seen it many times now.

[CometGuy]

Hi Justin,

Well done!

When are you going to start searching for comet's with this setup ?

Terry

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Nice work Justin, some good captures there.

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Very nice captures, Justin. The unmodded Canon sure brings out the "green ghost" glow in comets. Great for hunting - makes 'em stand out.

Cheerio,

Richard

[Clayton]

Well caught Justin

[Liz]

Originally Posted by CometGuy

Hi Justin,

Well done!

When are you going to start searching for comet's with this setup ?

Terry

I believe Justin already has one comet named for him.

[gregbradley]

Nice captures.

Greg.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Great stuff Justin, Huntin down them three ! The resolution & colours are great ! good show ! !

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments

Originally Posted by CometGuy

Hi Justin,

Well done!

When are you going to start searching for comet's with this setup ?

Terry

Hi Terry,
I'm still sorting out the best method of hunting with my setup, but plan to start seriously in November.
I won't have the level of sophistication of your setup, so my thinking is with the 1.5 degree by 1.0 degree field I have is to overlap so it comes back to 1.0 by .75. In 4 hours I hope to cover 24 by 1.5 degrees, using 5 x 2 minute exposures for each field at ISO 1600. Weather permitting repeat this over three nights, moving down in declination.
The next problem is do I try and blink frames, or stack them and look for the tell tale streak in the image.
Any idea's this?
I also plan to do some visual sweeping, as I understand a few brighter comets ahve gone begging in recent years.
It's pretty easy to cover 120 degrees by 20 in 2 hours, Iv'e kept the old comet hunter up to scratch figuring to give it another go.

Originally Posted by Liz

I believe Justin already has one comet named for him.

Yep, 1997 O1, and also 1999 A1, not many remember A1 as it was rather faint and disintegrated.

Cheers,

Justin.