ISON Rising – November 14, 2013

ISON Rising - Nov 14, 2013. 30 sec each @ ISO 1600, Canon 200mm F/2.8, modified Canon T3.
ISON Rising – Nov 14, 2013. 30 sec each @ ISO 1600, Canon 200mm F/2.8, modified Canon T3.

This morning (Thursday, Nov 14, 2013) I observed ISON and imaged it. Boy, what a difference from yesterdays observations. It has shot up immensely in brightness since yesterday and is now naked eye. Its so bright you can see an intense teal-green color in binoculars.

I managed to get about 28×30 sec images of the comet rising from behind the trees in my backyard.  I combined most of them into an animated GIF image above.   It shows the comet from about the start of astronomical twilight until the sky got too bright and the comet was moving back into some tree branches (about 5:11 A.M. local time until 5:33 A.M. local time.)

ison-131114-18x30-1600-200f2_8-s
Comet ISON and a meteor, Nov 14, 2013.

My image above is a composite of a single 30 second sub-frame for the background with an 18×30 sec stack of the comet blended in. I was using a Canon 200mm F/2.8 lens and had the camera (a modified Canon T3) by itself on a CG3 clone mount with a rudimentary clock drive. There was no guiding.

BTW, the sub-image with the meteor is presently being used by Sky & Telescope on their website for a couple of stories on Comet ISON:

Comet ISON Comes to Life

This Week’s Sky at a Glance – Some night sky sights for November 15 – 23

Latest Updates on Comet ISON

Not sure how long they will include the image on their website, but its given me lots of exposure.  🙂

 

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