Christmas and (Love) joy to the world.

[firstlight (Tony)]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking at some of the images that have been captured in the past week or so and have been jealous. I was lucky enough to get a great Christmas present when Anne-Louise suggested I drive to the the Bay and try to catch the comet over the water. The weather was iffy but there was a chance to capture it between the clouds. I went first to Wellington Point, but I noticed a sign when I arrived that the park was closed until 4:00am under pain of death... or something. I decided to drive to Cleveland Point and under fairly windy conditions (and a street light) I managed to capture this great comet.

The first image give a hint of the sky conditions Canon 450D, Canon 10-22mm @17mm, f5, 60 sec, iso 1600.

2. Same settings

3. Canon 450D, Canon 10-22mm @14mm, f5, 60 sec, iso 1600. Much clearer sky conditions, and moved 50m from the street light.

4. Canon 450D, Canon 10-22mm @14mm, f5, 60 sec, iso 1600. Also managed to snag a couple of meteors on the field... pretty happy about that!

5. Stayed at the outlaws up at Bribie Island so Anne-Louise could escape with me to view the comet. Weather was not promising but it cleared enough for us to view the comet for this session. Only took 30 second images as I didn't want to set up the laptop on the beach. Canon 450D, Canon 10-22mm @10mm, f5, 30 sec, iso 1600 on self timer.

6.Canon 450D, Canon 10-22mm @10mm, f5, 30 sec, iso 1600 on self timer. Scorpius and Mercury on the horizon, Saturn and Spica in the upper left.

Need some Zzzz now as too many nights no/little sleep.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Really nice shots, Tony

I like the 3rd one there

You mightn't notice it at first, but you've managed to also capture a faint trace of zodiac light as well in the 5th piccie

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Splendid work young man!!

[h0ughy (David)]

nice present for yourselves, thanks for spreading the love - joy!

[Octane (Humayun)]

That last picture is fab.

There's something about the blue of twilight. Mmm.

H

[midnight (Darrin)]

Lovelly collection there Tony!

Darrin...

[firstlight (Tony)]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Really nice shots, Tony

You mightn't notice it at first, but you've managed to also capture a faint trace of zodiac light as well in the 5th piccie

Thanks Carl, we did notice the zodiacal light at the time, but I haven't been through the photos properly. Third is nice, but I'm partial to number 4 with the two meteors... not bad for 60 seconds.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Splendid work young man!!

Not so young ... Thanks JJJ

Originally Posted by h0ughy

nice present for yourselves, thanks for spreading the love - joy!

Yeah, I thought it was a nice pressie. Anne-Louise had to wait a few days to see it until we went to Bribie.

Originally Posted by Octane

That last picture is fab.

There's something about the blue of twilight. Mmm.

H

Thanks Humayun... got HEAPS in the past few days. Need to have a good look at them yet.

Originally Posted by midnight

Lovelly collection there Tony!

Darrin...

Thanks Darrin.

Shot everything in 1600 and short exposures, which I generally try to avoid, but it would have been a big ask to set up the mount to get some tracked images.

This is my second Kreutz sungrazer. My first was Comet Ikea-Seki in October 1965 as a 4 year old. Still remember that golden "rocket trail" in the afternoon sky.