It is somewhat unusual to have 3 relatively bright comets all in the morning sky at the same time. This one, I think, is the brightest and the other two, Comet Lovejoy and Comet ISON, are close behind. Anyway, I managed to get data on all three comet in two mornings of imaging. Its a comet hunter’s dream come true!
Here is my first Comet ISON image. It was low in the east in lots of light pollution, but I managed to get enough shots to make a reasonable image. I had to cut down a small tree the afternoon before taking this to get a clear shot.
This was taken with my TV 85 and a modified Canon T3. It is only 26×180 sec sub-images @ ISO 1600. I was just testing the scope, mount and computer to make sure it all still worked, since the last time I used it was last April.
A new film is out with the best high quality images available of Earth and Space taken by various space probes, professional observatories and amateurs. Maarten Roos, a planetary scientist, is the filmmaker and William Zeitler is the musical soundtrack composer.
Here’s a video excerpt from the DVD:
Below are a couple of stills from their website. The first image is a NASA/JPL image of Comet Hartley 2 from a spacecraft and the one below it, (by yours truly,) is an image from Earth.
Quote from their website:
“Do you look up on a clear night and gaze in wonder on the stars deep into the Universe? They provoke inspiration and awe, a moment of calm, quiet, and peace in our hectic world. Serene Universe combines the awe of the Universe with these healing moments of serenity. It is a unique one hour film experience in which images and music are intimately intertwined. Starting on our beautiful planet, Serene Universe takes you slowly above the Earth, into the Solar System, the Galaxy, Deep Space and finally your inner space.”
M4 and NGC 6144 are two globular cluster near the bright star, Antares in Scorpius. I shot this while waiting for Comet Pan-STARRS to come into view.
An easy to find open cluster that lies just below Sirius, the brightest star in our skies here in the northern hemisphere. I had just setup and needed something to test the rig and make sure everything was working. M41 was convenient so I shot 10 x 3 minute sub-images and combined those to get this final image. There was lots of moonlight and LP, so open and globular cluster shooting is about all you can do in such conditions.
I camped out on Friday night, April 19, 2013 at the old family farm property. I brought everything I needed to image with my Televue TV-85 APO refractor, including my Atlas EQ-G mount. What a load! lol I had fun even with a bright moon out. As soon as Omega Centauri was visible, I started imaging it. Three minutes at ISO 400 was as much as I could go with the moonlight and LP, so I tried to get as many sub-images as possible. I ended up with 42×3 min for a total of 2 hours and 6 minutes worth of integration.
August 20th was probably the last time I was able to shoot Comet Panstarrs before it fades below 7th magnitude. I took all my gear to a spot where the comet was not blocked by trees, like at home. Unfortunately, the LP was bad and transparency was not up to par for this night. I had to shoot with only 1 minute sub-images to get around that. I was also shooting right into a huge light dome from Lafayette, LA to my northeast. I thought I would have had better conditions, but unfortunately they were marginal, at best.
I woke up at 3:45 AM to go out and image Comet Panstarrs on Friday, April 12, 2013. I should have got up at 3:00 AM instead. I didn’t think I would have problems in the field and I cut it way too close to the start of twilight.
What held me up is my mount wasn’t tracking at all at first and I had to haggle with it quite a bit before I could shoot some images. By that time, it was already 5:30 AM and the start of astronomical twilight was upon me. Not quite sure what went wrong.
I shot this with my Canon 200mm telephoto at F/2.8. Its only about 7 minutes worth of integration. I was hoping for 3 times that amount. Oh, well…
As of this writing, this is what we have in store for Comet Pan-STARRS down here in southern Louisiana. Its evening viewing period is almost totally dominated by twilight, so the morning part of the comet’s apparition is what I’ll be concentrating on, now.
On April 1st it will be low at the start of strong twilight about 80 minutes before sunrise. This point is about the limit for shooting images because of the encroaching twilight, so any images need to be shot before then. It will be only 4 degrees or so above the horizon, so it will be very difficult if the sky conditions are not right. Conditions improve somewhat by April 6, 2013, so I think I stand a better chance then. At 5:30 am, the beginning of astronomical twilight, the comet will be over 7 degrees high, which improves my chances considerably for getting usable images. If I start shooting then, I have about 10 minutes to shoot before strong twilight gets me. lol 😀 Continue reading Comet Pan-STARRS April 1 to April 6, 2013