Comet Jacques - 19th August

[Helen]

Tonight's imaging is not going well - everything except the mount is misbehaving! I've been trying to get Comet Jacques. So far I've managed just 4 x 60s shots in 2 hours - and now Maxim refuses to speak to the cameras!

I've decided to roll back the pc.  So while its doing it I've processed what I've got.

This picture will win no awards, but it does show how a comet moves quite quickly against background stars. Stacked on stars in DSS so the four dots in the green glow are the comet nucleus' position at just over 5 minute intervals (I was taking 5 min subs as well, but they trail the comet in the sub!)

Helen

[happy-kat]

Nice colour

[Helen]

PS  I think the nebulosity bottom right is part of the Soul Nebula.

Helen

[paulastro]

Njice picture.  I was out watching the comet from 11.00pm last night for over an hour and it was good to see it moving fairly swiftly against the starry background.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Nice capture, it's certainly shifting. Think you've picked up a little of the Heart Nebula on the right.

[Uranium235]

Looks much the same as what I got last night (I didnt expect such a short tail), its actually a good thing that the comet was moving so fast because from what Ive read over the past couple of days,  if you got enough exposures you can first stack on the comet using sigma clipping to remove the stars. Then, you would merge that image with one where the stars are stacked but the comet removed.

Gotta learn how to do it myself first though!...lol. I have data for the comet and the entire soul nebua, to which i hoping to add a touch of Ha in order to bring out the nebula a bit more.

[nightfisher]

Nice image, im hoping to image this comet at dalby star fest using the 150p ds and 1000d in prime focus, could do with some hints and tips, as this is stuff i dont usually do 

[Pete Presland]

i was having a similarly painfull session as well, i think that hasnt come out too bad actually. i like the look of the comets progress over the period of time. i went for 30 second exposures, which i think are a bit short. a nice bonus to get some nebula in there as well!

[Helen]

Thanks all.  Trying to give it another go tonight - wish me luck!!!

Helen

[Helen]

Managed to get the Mesu tracking the comet.  Here's a single 15 minute sub, stretched to within an inch of its life to show at least a hint of a tail 

DSS is not coping with stacking these, so I'm going to need some help tomorrow...

Helen