Comet Pojmanski (2006 A1)

[asimov (John)]

Great work Kevin!

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Oh yeah, now we're cooking with gas. The clouds stayed away almost the whole time allowing me to get a longer exposure.

341 2.5 second frames. Same setup as above.

This comet speak with fork tail. Couldn't see any tail through the 6 inch scope at all. All I could see was a small fuzzy blob. It's hard to believe it's possible to pull out so much detail that isn't visible to the eye.

[iceman (Mike)]

Wow, great image Kevin! Nicely done!

Where is the comet currently located for a visual look?

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Try this page Mike
http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/
Gives good maps on how to find the comet

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Wow, great image Kevin! Nicely done!

Where is the comet currently located for a visual look?

Your very optimistic Mike, we have two items to see and can't probably until sunday/monday next week .

Is it moving fast?

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

At this stage the comet's motion is mostly in declination and it's moving about 2 degrees per day northwards. A small nudge of the telescope every night.

At the moment it's under Corona Australis, in another week it will be below Venus.

[h0ughy (David)]

Thanks

[fringe_dweller]

hhmmm streamers or TDE? I would think streamers should all start at head? oh well - the old bifurcated tail trick eh
hehe like the gas reference too
is he any good or what!

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Your right, I didn't notice that. Must be a tail disconnection event.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

No twin tail today but shows a sign of streamers starting.

411 2.5 second frames.

Spotted the comet for the first time in 7x50 binoculars but only because I knew exactly where to look. Very small, almost stellar, no visual tail.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I love it when I have free access to the sky without interference from clouds. This may be the best image I will get.

1091 2.5 second frames or about 45 minutes combined exposure through the 6 inch f5. Stacked and tracked in registax.

[davidpretorius]

these are fantastic!!!

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

There are awesome Kevin, can you do colour ones too?

If not someone send him a colour filter wheel quick

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I've tried tri-colour with this camera but it doesn't work well with comets. Not having the proper filters doesn't help either, but tricolour and comets looks kinda funny due to the comets motion. You end up with rainbow coloured star trails. From what I've seen single shot colour seems to work best.

Digital SLR's take nice colour pics. When is someone else going to shoot this comet through a scope with a DSLR?

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

I dont mind three coloured shots, quite colourful...

Or even toucam with long exposure mod should be able to do some good to this object.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I wouldn't mind a modded toucam to play with. But I wouldn't be the one to mod it. Small fiddly things annoy me these days. I have no patience in my old age! Can you buy them already modified?

Fooling around with the contrast a bit.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Fantastic Kevin. One of these shots would make a great addition to the cometry section of the local astro mags.

great job

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

OK, sent the above pic to Australian Sky and Telescope.

Still can't see a tail visually no matter how hard I strain. But I have light pollution in that direction plus there's still some moonlight up there.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Want to see how bad my camera really is? I'll attach a single 128x integration frame. This is what I see on the monitor when I'm taking an avi. Barely any tail and more hot pixels than stars.

You gotta love frame stacking. The more frames I can stack the more detail the final image shows.

[h0ughy (David)]

Full Kudos to your efforts Kevin!