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After being clouded out earlier in the evening the skies began to clear around 21:00 last night. I set out to try and capture both comets as they past each other. Early attempts (and possibly this one!) guiding on star background didn't reveal anything so I started guiding on C2022 E3 (ZTF) with 500 second subs. Below are two individual subs and a combination of the two in an effort to show position changes. Times are annotated for each image and in the combined frame I'ved added two arrows to show (what I think) is the motion of Atlas between the two sub exposures. Added a starless image which shows a misty blue blur... The moon really killed any contrast while imaging but hopefully processing has lifted things enough? Images captured and guided with Astroart 8.0 using an Altair Astro 102mm Ascent Ed refractor and an Altair 26C @ -10°C. Processing in PI & PS CS3. Comments welcome.

Just got lined up and the guider tracking on C2022 E3 and Atlas together in the Kids (Auriga) and the alarm went off that my guide star was lost! 10 minutes before there was a little patch of cloud way to the south of me now - almost solid cloud. Main pairing is about 21:00 hrs so I can only hope things clear before then. I hope others are having some clear skies, despite the moon now rising...

I like to use https://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php you can use the ‘M’ or planet’s search but I like to go to Target / search and enter the object’s name ngc etc… it takes longer to display but photos are higher quality and the framing can be moved around and rotated (90 degree steps). Shorter fl’s and large sensors may not fill frame but the scale and frame size seems accurate. eg: Attached a couple of images for my OO VX10 and AA 26C camera combo FoV for Zenith Star 80 and 26C the white line shows the frame extent. I hope that helps

Given you are under b3 skies then dslr and lens are a good option. I’m under b4 skies and usually use uv/ir cut filters. However. It will depend on the lenses used. The SW Adventurer has a weight limit and longer fl camera lenses can be heavy with their internal focusing mechanisms, where an Astro optic of similar spec will generally be lighter (physically). Should you change to an Astro camera at some stage camera lenses may not be adaptable, or accept filters…

Superb

Well, I’ll try again with ic443. Not tonight as the moon is virtually on top of it, probably wait until it’s well out of the way…

I know the main target tonight was IC443. I only got 3x 300s subs due to cloud but decided to process them anyway. But there's what almost (to me) looks like a trailed comet to the left of IC443. I've looked at different sky charts physical and on-line but nothing is shown in that area? The bright star (lower right) is Propus. Help?

Forecast is for Feb 6th 2023 circa 21.00 hrs (UK)

Heads up.... Just updated the comet data in CdC and tracked C/2022 E3 (ZTF) for a few days and found these two almost on top of each other. East of NGC1499 (California nebula).

I too would look at going for a refractor with a shorter focal length. You'll see more stars and a lot of the neubulosity too...

I can't blame you with FLO but why the 9.25 ? if you can give a reason for going with this scope it will make other recommendations a little easier...

I've been using a Nikon D5100 with a Baader MPCC Mk 3 coma corrector mainly becuse it's a light weight (physical) body and I have a intervalometer with it to take a number of or single frames. I've yet to try with a astro camera. The small chips on mine I'm guessing will make object location a pain. At least ther nikon is DX/APS-C format so finding things isn't too bad.

Gap in clouds job this morning. Single 2 min sub at circa 05:20 Altair C26 and 102 Ascent ED refractor

Not sure how David is building his EQ platforms. I've made my south end pivot on a big ball bearing the rear edge of its support I've cut to my latitude angle (52°N) and glued a side piece/fence to act as a shoulder. I have a low power green laser that I tape against the shoulder piece/fence. I do a rough ish eyeball to get my baseboard pointing North, then I level east/west and finally north/south with a bubble level. Then I switch on the laser and make finer adjustments until I get the laser pointing at my guess to the rotational pole. There may be some iterations to the levelling depending on the ground level I'm working off. A previous version held a raci finder in a little cradle but I can't get down that low these days to look through it. The laser's much easier to see without breaking your neck! Make sure you can't see any aircraft when using the laser. Francis

I'm definitely liking the smaller stars...

Just a test image with my Altair 102 Ascent refractor and a new Altair 26C camera. 5x 300s subs done to test the spacing between the 26C and the Baader MPCC MkIII coma corrector. Stars in the corners all facing out radially so I need to modify the spacing slightly. Just need some clear stuff again to do it!

I think there are 3 versions of the AI module for star removal, the largest file is the slowest but it makes the best repairs to the background image once stars are gone. The smallest file is fastest and good if your denoising the background image. The middle one is a halfway house version…