C/2006 Vz13

[Outbackmanyep]

This is my first comet pic with the 400D taken last night through my 8" SCT @ f/10.
C/2006 VZ13 is currently in the north near Bootes, and it has a rather large coma, i did notice with my laptop screen there was a small tail extension at around the 5 o'clock position, maybe someone can confirm that or wether thats not the case.

The image is a little noisy as i'm still flying blind as far as image processing goes, but i had a crack at Registax V4. Wasn't too bad, the scope was roughly aligned and the PEC disabled as it was -3 degrees at 7pm last night and i wasn't gonna freeze my bum off trying to precisely align the scope, so thats why the stars may seem a little squashed.

I took 9 images at 30 seconds a piece at prime focus then tried 2 images using eyepiece projection as well but they're not too crash hot, so the 9 images got resized and stacked.
If anyone wants to have a go at tinkering with the image then you have my permission, would be great to have a little feedback!


Hope it's ok.
Cheers!

[iceman (Mike)]

Great start, nicely done.

What magnitude is the comet? Where is it currently located? I haven't photographed a comet through the scope before, it would be great to have a try.

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by iceman

Great start, nicely done.

What magnitude is the comet? Where is it currently located? I haven't photographed a comet through the scope before, it would be great to have a try.

Its about mag 7 to 7.5 according to some estimates, its quite bright and its low in the northern skies in Bootes
http://www.cometchasing.skyhound.com.../2006_VZ13.gif

Thats the finder chart, it took me probably 5 mins to find it, you'd be able to scan the area with your 12" and wide field eyepiece, the moon wont help but it'll be bright enough to get it easily with the 12".

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

What time! When did this appear! Where have I been! Why didn't someone tell me!!!


Your first comet is always special. Even when you had some chance to catch a few more it will always stick in your mind and you won't throw out that image no matter how you critically review it later. Nicely done

BTW what time?

damn and I made a promise I'd stay inside tonight

[duncan]

Aarghhh! Stay inside and keep warm. I saw it last night in the 12" (32mm &15mm) and it is just a feint mag8 fuzzy blob. M13 was far more interesting,LOL. At the moment it is not much too see.
Cheers,
Duncan.
Ps. I am still green with envy at all of you who saw McNaught. (bloody clouds)

[Terry B]

Nice one Chris. I haven't looked for this one as my northern sky is pretty much covered by trees. I tried to image Mcnaught 2006 comet in Musca 2 nights ago but a 3 min exposure down to ~15 mag I couldn't see any fuzz where skymap tells me it should be.
Bring your camera on 8/8 and we should try to connect it to the 14" scope.

Cheers

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by Terry B

Nice one Chris. I haven't looked for this one as my northern sky is pretty much covered by trees. I tried to image Mcnaught 2006 comet in Musca 2 nights ago but a 3 min exposure down to ~15 mag I couldn't see any fuzz where skymap tells me it should be.
Bring your camera on 8/8 and we should try to connect it to the 14" scope.

Cheers

Will do Terry!
I havent got a straight through adaptor, only the eyepiece projection adaptor and the Radial Guider, the RG is supposed to fit on the 14" rear cell thread but i can't see how, the thread on the scope looks too big!
VZ13 is a good target for anyone with CCD
Im gonna slip Registax V4 into the laptop so i can attempt to make a final image, that way you'd be able to see if im doing the stacking/process right.

Cheers!