I havn`t looked at this thread for a while, so have missed out on the last comments....thanks for the comments Kearn!! I don`t live up very high but I have a fairly dark sky site. when mcnaught was a bit brighter I took my gear to different vantage points maybe 200m above the flats for a clean horizon. but the last 2 lots I posted was done from the backyard.
By the way great widefield there Kearn!!!! sure will make a good poster..
Took some images last week...I might just post one!!!!, have to keep this thread goinn a bit longer!!
Hope you get some closeups still Ric!!!
Cheers Gary
Nice shots Raya there!!!
Ok another closeup from 21st with Tv genesis, stack of 7 images at 3 min each at iso 800..
Dust tail is very faint on the original side and the anti-tail is larger and fainter, but now the gas (ion) tail is much more easier to see without the dust hiding it.. I have some later images but still hav`nt processed them..
Its gettin real hard to see now, sighted it the other day before the clouds came over and could just see it using adverted vision..
Cheers Gary....
Hi Gary, nice image love the green coming through in it.
I hope I get a chance as well for a few more images with the 12", it's just these pesky clouds that wont go away
yes really nice collection of shots raya! the 20th jan wide angles remind me of the views we had - we had similar conditions (except maybe for the LP) and welcome! great first post!
cheers for info Gary! , wow you must have awesome skies there dude, to do that without elevation or with only a little - thats the kind of backyard i would like one day
another ripper close-up from ya there mate, in a long line of beauties i must say! thanks for the visual updates to! appreciate it,
also for nice comments thankyou :-))
I agree, lets see if this thread can do 50 000 hits!!! well 41 000 is nice too - must be the record for IIS sooo easily should stand for quite a while too? till the next such event?
Thanks everyone for the comments...., I`ll keep posting a pic or two as long as the weather is on my side... and when the moon is out of the way again.
Yeah lets go for 50,000 hits....
I reckon this post has some of the best pics of the comet I have seen and many have made it into the gallery at Spacewatch etc..
Lets keep the ball rolling...lol.
Cheers and CS
Gary
Ok another closeup from 21st with Tv genesis, stack of 7 images at 3 min each at iso 800..
Dust tail is very faint on the original side and the anti-tail is larger and fainter, but now the gas (ion) tail is much more easier to see without the dust hiding it.. Cheers Gary....
Oh another great capture Gary, keep them coming mate.
Wow! There are some beaultiful images posted. I shouldn't have waited so long to visit this thread.
Here is one of only a handful I took. This would be the best out of the lot...
It was shot on my new EOS 400D piggy backed, ISO1600 (had to review my shooting info, thought it was 800), shutter priority, 10 second exposure at 6.3.
The line at the bottom of the shot was an inconsiderate satellite...
I took this one at around 10:40 on the 22nd of Jan.
Congratulations on all the great images that get posted here!
I´m following this forum since I made my first pic of the comet - when it was still visible here in the northern hemisphere... sigh (http://www.kometarium.com/2006p1.html)
Now I´m preparing the next comet column for an german astronomy magazin and wanted to ask if anybody here is interested to provide some photos for it? Would surely be a big pleasure to all of our readers up here.
Keep up the good work and thanks to everyone in advance!
I would like to take this oppertunity to thank Burkhard for his request here on IIS for McNaught images.
After submitting my image I recieved an email that it might be used in the magazine.
Well to my surprise I received a copy of the German magazine "Interstellarum" just recently and my Comet McNaught image was published along with two of Mike Salway's.
It's a real thrill to see your work published, especially in a foreign magazine.
I must add that it's a first class magazine with a lot of information and reviews especially for astro imaging.
I only wish I could read German for I'd be a subscriber for sure.
I would like to take this oppertunity to thank Burkhard for his request here on IIS for McNaught images.
After submitting my image I recieved an email that it might be used in the magazine.
Well to my surprise I received a copy of the German magazine "Interstellarum" just recently and my Comet McNaught image was published along with two of Mike Salway's.
It's a real thrill to see your work published, especially in a foreign magazine.
I must add that it's a first class magazine with a lot of information and reviews especially for astro imaging.
I only wish I could read German for I'd be a subscriber for sure.
ditto to Andrew - that's Burkhard! Was great to see the images in print.
I also had a couple of images printed in the May 2007 issue of Astronomy - one of them was a double page spread! Very cool. They even pay for images, it was a very nice surprise.
ditto to Andrew - that's Burkhard! Was great to see the images in print.
I also had a couple of images printed in the May 2007 issue of Astronomy - one of them was a double page spread! Very cool. They even pay for images, it was a very nice surprise.
Congratulations on that too...
Since you are "getting paid" I guess this makes you no longer an amateur...
My photo made it to the front cover of the Chinese Astronomical Journal, to an article in the International Comet Quarterly and to page 3 of our local paper.
The Chinese promised $50 but didn't come good with that but did send 2 copies of the mag. So not a professional astronomer yet.
Isn't it great to be still talking about this comet almost 12 months on!?
My first sighting was on 17th January, only briefly because a huge thunderhead was staring down at me, everywhere else was clear except the west and south-west....i saw it in binoculars.....WOW! This is AWESOME! Then the clouds covered it.....i couldn't wait till tomorrow!
I know i'll NEVER EVER forget it! 18th January, 2007.....
The thrill of the hunt, dodging clouds, the excitement of getting my gear together after work, all bundled in the Landcruiser, race out to the hunting property to drive across creeks, and opening about half a dozen gates (and closing them of course)....get up near a trig station, set up my gear on the side of the hill, warm wind blowing, David Gilmour quietly playing on the CD player......just waiting for the sun to set and then it was on.......roughly aligned my eq. fork for the 8" SCT, then i scanned for Venus, find it!, set my setting circles, read the ephemeris, wide angle eyepiece in, adjust to approx position....visually scan for that faint bluish blob of fuzz.....i remember sighting it at 8:15pm! Twilight about 30 mins from ending......my old man spotted it in binoculars and his excitement said it all! "HOLY @!$T....look at the SIZE of it!!!"
It appeared through my scope, and it looked like a small fuzz, but as the sky got darker it glowed with a golden hue.....and the extensions of the tail got more and more....i scurried to get my Minolta 7000 all hooked up to Prime focus, i had another Minolta 7000 on a tripod ready to take wide angle shots.......then click....click.....click....800 ISO film in, 5 sec exp, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute.......got to 5 mins, then camera onto piggyback mount.....same deal.....5 sec, 15 secs....none of my images went longer than 5 mins. I wanted to cover everything!
Had to make sure the focus was right......and sharp, even to the extent i had the focus motor on when taking prime focus shots to help lock the focusser down......10 rolls of film between 2 cameras throughout the first 3 weeks of its apparition, the following day was the same routine......the moon light gifted me an opportunity to get some good moonlit foreground shots....
I'll never forget P1 McNaught!
the scans look grainy and a little smeary because the underside of my HP scanner is foggy and i can't do nothing about it, the actual images look pristine!
I might have a Beez Neez now to remember it by!
the 20th jan wide angles remind me of the views we had - we had similar conditions 
(except maybe for the LP) and welcome! great first post! 
well 41 000 is nice too - must be the record for IIS sooo easily should stand for quite a while too? till the next such event?
Do you still get to enter "amateur" competitions? 
