Well I tagged along with Scott tonight, but I ended up with very disappointing results. the light pollution and the crud in the atmosphere was terrible. Scott efforts were tracked on a eq mount he rebuilt for the occasion. He got an excellent result. My images were with a canon 350D and a 200mm L lens
The comet was only a star point in the original pictures, but after drawing out the tail using level adjustments , I stacked 5 images to get this one.
Concidering the camera I'm using, I'm pretty chuffed.
Great going Scott, houghy and jjjnettie.....
Was really clear sunset but then a horrible smokey haze and low cloud came from nowwhere blocking all but the brightest stars....
cheers Gary
Thanks all
The crud down low is making it difficult, I got it just as it was getting dark, in fact the first few images have some sky glow, the last few were darker but comet was dimmed by the crud and smoke. Oh to be able to see and image it under a dark and clear sky.
Scott
It was nice to see under a dark sky last night, I could see about 15 deg of tail, although I wasn't fully
dark adapted due to looking at the LCD screen of my camera every 30 sec or so.
The straight tail, which I assume is some sort of ion tail, is brightest in green light rather than blue, so its probably not a regular ion tail. The Sodium tail from a couple of weeks ago seems to have gone as there is no sign on it in red light now. Last night's pics here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm
Scott's image is similar to the view through 20x80s last night.
As in my 20x80's too!! it made a nice naked eye object again before the
moon came into play.
I was running between the bino's and my 8" f/6 newt wif a 20mm t5 in it. It
looked awesome. I like how the tail has spread out. Under the dark skies of
home I could see hints that the tail hasn't really mellowed at all. It can only
get better
btw, I posted a observation note on a northern hemishpere list, and got no
reply... I kinda got the feeling they must be a lil green with envy since
it really only started performing once we got it.
Those images from last night are brilliant. It was clear for me last night, but I could only barely see it with the naked-eye.
btw, Gordon, I think I met you around 20 years ago. I bought a 12.5 inch telescope that came with its own trailer from you up at Tamworth. I've still got it
Hello people,
Greatly enjoying browsing your forums. I'm chompping at the bit for more of Gordans pics, of anything! Truely inspiring. Dad got some free-hand shots 'out the back' a few weeks ago in Perth. Where's Gordan live? I feel a 'seeing change' coming on.
Hi Magnification reprocessed image post perihelion.
Hi
Heres an image taken back in Jan 15, middle of the day, a stack of 20 1/4000th sec shots ISO100, processed to keep inner detail , sky dark, and upsampled x2. The brightness of the inner coma is incredible, if sky was dark a moon filter would have been needed to stop being dazzled by it. Even against a bright hazy noon sky it was quite bright.
Scott
Lucky enough to be offered a ride to dark skies over the `Range for my first look in the dark. How cool is P1? Still putting on a great show. We saw quite easily10 to 15 deg of tail, despite the haze and the lights of a distant town (had to pick a spot with pollution towards comet-set . We were just east of Oakey.
Terry let me ride on his losmondy mount for some 160 sec shots.
There is a bit of distortion toward the sides from misalignment of the stack, but the singles have stars looking good to the edges. I'm pretty stoked by the result as I'm still only playing with processing and feeling my way. Lost some of the tail making the sky dark from the raw/tiff.
Last edited by firstlight; 07-02-2007 at 11:00 PM.
went out to new unchartered dark sky site on me todd, got there a bit late unfortunately, so only had around half an hour before moon rise, and it sure was creepy and bull anst crawling over camera/ every where! , but i'm love with the new area/spot . two 30 sec iso 1600 single shots no darks, and from hi-res jpg only at this stage, one using 50mm lens and other kit 18-55 @ 18 and f3.5 on tripod 350D
i could see the tail/sprays southern edge naked eye all the way to the small mag, 26 degrees away from head, before the moon rose and it sank closer to horizon - comas brightness was definately somewhere around 3.5 mag, tail seemed nearly as bright, very obvious - did have charts didnt get time to use em. in fact while driving earlier en route I glanced out window at area i knew it was in and it sprang out rather obviously and sharply! impressive still! moon was slightly up by the time i took the widefield and affected scene strongly
A
btw, I posted a observation note on a northern hemishpere list, and got no
reply... I kinda got the feeling they must be a lil green with envy since
it really only started performing once we got it.
regards,CS
Yea, I can't speak for all uf us stuck up here but green with envy might be an apt description.
I want to thank each and every one of you who have posted images to share this remarkable comet with those of us who have lost it from our skies.
It was probably after all your turn as we had Hale-Bopp and Hayakutake at their best. In fact each of those great comets were circumpolar so we could watch them all night.
Anyhow,
Thanks again for the virtual show!
Yea, I can't speak for all uf us stuck up here but green with envy might be an apt description.
I want to thank each and every one of you who have posted images to share this remarkable comet with those of us who have lost it from our skies.
It was probably after all your turn as we had Hale-Bopp and Hayakutake at their best. In fact each of those great comets were circumpolar so we could watch them all night.
Anyhow,
Thanks again for the virtual show!
Yes thats right, we weren't in the box seat for those but I do envy you the aurora's, I would love to see those . Did you get any pictures of the comet before it left your neck of the woods?
. We were just east of Oakey.
, but i'm love with the new area/spot 
. two 30 sec iso 1600 single shots no darks, and from hi-res jpg only at this stage, one using 50mm lens and other kit 18-55 @ 18 and f3.5 on tripod 350D
but I do envy you the aurora's, I would love to see those
