Finally rising high enough to image where I live, Lovejoy Q2 is already putting on a show. It will be getting even brighter than it is now towards X-mass and the first part of January.
Date: Dec 17, 2014, 07:23 UT
Telescope: C8 w/FR/FF at F/6.3 or 1260mm f.l.
Camera: modified Canon T3
Exposure: 20 x 180 sec @ ISO 3200.
At the end of October 2014, I was shooting images of some brighter NGC galaxies, but the TV-85 scope I was using just didn’t have enough image scale to do them justice, so I never posted them. Well, my old C8 is still kickin’ and it has over 2.5 times the focal length of the smaller refractor. But, I needed a way to guide it and the 50mm guiding scope arrangement I used once for it was just not good enough.
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.
A bright asteroid moved into the field of view when I was taking the sub-images for this object. I made a quickie composite to show my buddies on the astro-imaging forum I frequent.
Taken in January of 2008. Reworked in 2016. A very southern target and hard to get a good window to shoot sub-images. I managed only 10 shots for this particular imaging session. At minimum it needs quadruple that, unfortunately.
Comet Holmes passing through a galaxy cluster. Note all the faint fuzzies in the background.
One of my better M51 images from back in the day.
This image of the Black Eye galaxy was one of my better ones taken with my Celestron C8 that I’ve been having since 1983. It won a contest on the astro forums I frequent back in 2006.
One of my better Mars images from the 2005 apparition.