Comet Lemmon and SMC widefield, 13th Feb

StephenM (Stephen) · #1 14-02-2013, 11:30 AM

Hi all,

I took advantage of the clear sky last night and had a go at capturing Lemmon near the SMC and 47 Tuc. I used my Tamron 90mm macro lens this time, with the camera just on a tripod (since I don't have a tracking mount). This image was made using 20 x 20sec exposures at f/2.8 and 3200 iso (plus 10 darks), stacked in DSS and processed in LR3. I'm pretty happy with the result for a tripod-mounted camera

. It was taken from near Warrill View, south west of Brisbane.

The comet has noticably brightened over the last week, and the tail is much more prominent. i could easily spot the comet with naked eyes, and could see about 2 degrees of tail in my 7x50 binoculars. A fabulous view!

Cheers,
Stephen

pixelsaurus (Mike) · #2 14-02-2013, 11:49 AM

Good skills. Hoping it will be fine tonite so I can drag out my Tamron 90 and give it ago.Thanks for showing the pic.

tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook) · #3 14-02-2013, 12:22 PM

Nice one Stephen!

Really come up well for short exposures.
Yes it is brighter, I viewed through an 80mm finder, saw 1 degree of tail and it looks brighter at the core.

Cheers,

Justin.

iceman (Mike) · #4 14-02-2013, 12:30 PM

Awesome Stephen!

StephenM (Stephen) · #5 14-02-2013, 02:49 PM

Thanks very much Mike, Justin and Mike! It will be interesting to see just how bright it gets.

Cheers,
Stephen

Larryp (Laurie) · #6 14-02-2013, 03:46 PM

Really good, Stephen!

anthony.tony · #7 14-02-2013, 04:52 PM

Nice work-- Tony.

Derek Klepp · #8 14-02-2013, 08:26 PM

Nice Shot to many clouds here and always at night.

DavidU (Dave) · #9 14-02-2013, 08:41 PM

Very well done Steve

von Tom (Tom) · #10 14-02-2013, 10:11 PM

Very well done Stephen

StephenM (Stephen) · #11 15-02-2013, 07:57 AM

Thanks very much Laurie, Tony, Derek, Dave and Tom! Much appreciated.

Cheers,
Stephen

astroron (Ron) · #12 15-02-2013, 08:13 AM

very nice image Stephen.
Looking forward to getting a look when the
weather clears.
Cheers

gregbradley · #13 15-02-2013, 09:38 AM

Is it moving away from or close to SMC and 47 Tuc now?

Greg.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #14 15-02-2013, 12:02 PM

Great shot Stephen, seeing it in context really shows how bright and big it's getting now.

StephenM (Stephen) · #15 18-02-2013, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astroron

very nice image Stephen.
Looking forward to getting a look when the
weather clears.
Cheers

Thanks Ron! It's been cloudy/rainy ever since I captured that image, so I got lucky I think. Hopefully we'll get some clear skies in SEQ again soon...

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Is it moving away from or close to SMC and 47 Tuc now?

Greg.

Sorry for the delay in replying Greg - as I'm sure you're aware it is moving away from the SMC now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Great shot Stephen, seeing it in context really shows how bright and big it's getting now.

Thanks Rolf! It will be interesting to see how much brighter it gets.

Cheers,
Stephen