deep Comet Lulin image

[tornado33]

Hi all
After the Newcastle Astronomical meeting the skies had cleared up to a lovely dark sky and a cool night.

14x3 minutes, ISO400. cannon 300mm f2.8 lens from Bert. LPS filter, modded 350D.
Scott

EDIT: Ive added an image without star size reduction, it seems to be a little cleaner as the reductions indroduces some noise, also a cropped image masked with a 4x30 sec image to show the central condensation

[h0ughy (David)]

great image scott - was this a crop?

[anthony.tony]

Top shot.

[RB (Andrew)]

Lovely shot Scott !

[gregbradley]

Fantastic Scott.

Greg.

[Lester]

Good one Scott.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Great shot of the comet there, Scott.

[tornado33]

Thanks all. Thats full frame image with the 300mm lens.
The first pic is star size reduced, but it can introduce some noise or artifacts so Ive included an image without it, and a masked version that is cropped for a closer view
Weather looks iffy for tonight, a pity Im hoping to see the comet with the societies 12 inch scope from the Shortland viewing tonight
Scott

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Excellent work Scott.....cheers Kev.

[avandonk]

Can you drive the 300mm harder Scotty? Don't tell me, the engines can't take it!

Looks great Scott.

Bert

[prokyon (Werner Probst)]

Hi Scott,

great pics!

[Garyh]

Nice work Scott! Must admit I rather like the one without star reduction.
cheers Gary

[tornado33]

Thanks everyone.

I wish I had access to a very dark sky, Id like to do a full hour with the 300mm and really go deep

Last night I tried an experiment in comet tracking. Because Lulin is moving so fast it trails in 5 minute subs, especially with longer focal lengths. So I plotted the comets course with Star Atlas Pro's Plot Path function. I then deliberatelt allowed the guidestar to move in that direction as I manually guided the shots. The first sub I went too far, so the next sub I halved the distance. I then got a 5 minute image with trailed stars but stationary comet.

This image is 9 of those 5 minute subs, with my 6 inch f3.6 SN. Its cropped about 50% for a closer look. ISO 400. Modded 350D, UV/IR filter (no LPS this time). A howling southerly came through mid way into the image run.
Scott

[Garyh]

Good one Scott! that sounds like hard work.
Not bright enough to manually guide on the nucleus it`s self?
cheers

[theodog (Jeff)]

Nice images Scott.
Ive yet to have a good look at C. Lulin myself.
Well done.

[tornado33]

Thanks. The nucleus area was too faint, the guide camera picked up no trace of it.
Lulin is probably just naked eye from very dark sites.
Scott