Comet C/2013 X1

[Luke.]

Something different again from me. I have been planning to image this one for a couple of weeks now and I had a clear night on the 1/6. I was hoping to capture the conjunction with the Helix nebula this weekend but the weather is horrible! It was a fairly late night waiting for Aquarius to rise but well worth it.

My first attempt at a comet here. It appeared quite large looking through my camera with the centre looking sharp but I am having trouble stacking about 30m worth of 1m subs in DSS. I am using comet mode and have tried various options but the comet always loses a lot of detail and doesn't look sharp

Skywatcher Star Adventurer
Nikon D3000
55mm-300mm lens @ 300mm
ISO 1600
f/5.6
Processed in PS CS6
30x 1m subs and I used darks, bias and flats.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

nice work Luke,

I have found when shooting a comet in the past and trying to stack in DSS I had a similar result, so can't offer much advice I'm afraid!

cheers

russ

[Luke.]

Thanks Russell. I am hoping to have another go if the bloody weather clears up!!

[ZeroID (Brent)]

The nature of comets being what they are I don't think you are going to get 'sharp'. Fuzzy ice and gas ball about fits the description.
I reckon you got it pretty dang good.

[Luke.]

Thanks Brent.
I had another go at it a couple of nights ago. I think there is some improvement.