Lulin revisited

[Rob_K]

Here's a rough go at what I intended to do earlier in the year. Still a few gradients in the sky, and the merge is fairly ordinary. If it keeps raining I might have time to get it right!

Sky was about a 20-image mosaic (lost count!), foreground was a 3-image mosaic (Castlemaine, Vic). Everything shot at 55mm, so the scale is true, even if not the actual scene...

So, Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin, 22 Feb - 1 March 09, moving past Saturn & Regulus. Piggybacked Canon 400D on EQ1 mount, hand-guided. Approx 1MB download (not the highest-res version)

http://robsastropics.googlepages.com...full;init:.jpg

Cheers -

[Matty P (Matt)]

Wow... Really nice image Rob. I love the inclusion of the city foreground. It adds a lot to the image.

What software was used to merge the images together? Photoshop?

Nice work.

[Rob_K]

Originally Posted by Matty P

What software was used to merge the images together? Photoshop?

Thanks Matt! PanoramaPlus3 was used to create the sky and foreground mosaics. Photoshop was used to join foreground to sky.

Cheers -

[iceman (Mike)]

Beautiful composite, Rob. Lovely work.

[Liz]

That is wonderful Rob!!
Lulin was a pretty comet for sure, and easy to find and see. Thanks for that
As an ex central Victorian girl ...nice to see Castlemaine too

[allan gould]

A unique shot. Have not seen one quite like it and its been done very well

[Lester]

That is an eye catching image Rob, I like it.

All the best.

[desler]

Yes Rob, very eye catching, I really am impressed.

Darren

[erick (Eric)]

Great composition Rob - what an effort!

I was taken by some regions of the starfield - see attached. Are these just an artifact of the composition or is something else happening here? The "stars" seem too well lined up and regular?

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Nice work Rob. Surely a contender for IOTW

[Terry B]

Excellent image Rob.

[Rob_K]

Thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by erick

Great composition Rob - what an effort!

I was taken by some regions of the starfield - see attached. Are these just an artifact of the composition or is something else happening here? The "stars" seem too well lined up and regular?

Nope, not artifacts Eric, those are actual lines of stars in the sky (but had to double-check on SN, LOL!). The furthest right star in the right hand line is HIP52856, the furthest right star (bright) in the left hand line is HIP51592. The stars aren't necessarily 'related' - HIP52856 & HIP52821 in the tight line of 6 stars at top-right have very different parallaxes.

Cheers -

[erick (Eric)]

Thanks Rob, I'll go looking for these - "straight" lines in the sky!

[erick (Eric)]

From Stellarium. How about that! (I should have researched them myself ) Bit of binocular hunting coming up, I think.