The Canon kit lens that came with my camera sat unused for so long, I figured I should at least test it a bit for astro use. This is the second time I used it. But, no matter how hard I tried, the focus was never very good and I had to repair the misshapen stars in Photoshop.
Very windy and cold conditions, but clear and transparent. Winds were gusting to 38 mph! I was setup behind my house which was blocking most of the wind for me. Unfortunately, the trees were blocking me from shooting the comet before the moon rose. I almost went to another spot, but with the wind so bad it would have been a disaster.
Lovejoy Q2 on Jan 7, 2015, 02:33 UT (Jan 6, 2015, 8:33 PM CST). 16×120 sec @ ISO 1600, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3 DSLR (stock.)
A quickie processing job on data taken on Jan 6, 2015 at 02:53 UT (Jan 5, 8:53 pm CST.) This is 36×45 sec ISO 1600 sub-images taken with a Televue TV-85 at F/5.6 and a stock Canon T3 with no LPS filters in the image train.
A very bright moon was out while taking these shots, but it still shows a nice tail. Just think how good it will be when there is no moonlight to hinder the view!
Edit: This image appears at the Federalist online news site in a story about the comet and is available by clicking here: Catch A Comet! Lovejoy Is Lighting Up The Skies
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Dec 25, 2014. 9×180 sec @ ISO 1600, Celestron C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Hutech Canon XS. Starfreeze and Star-Streaks processing.
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.
