scotty1

Hi Reggie It's nice to see you have been getting your shots of the comet. Do you use a tracking mount or telescope for this?

Handheld with the phone

A couple of photos from last Monday 20th February. I was hoping to pickup some zodiacal light, but it was hazy. So I pointed my camera upwards. Two from the phone in astro mode

I've just about picked up the zodiacal light from this location before. But this evening it was more zodiacal Sh1te than light. These are from the phone Laying the phone flat was better

From Tuesday 14th February

Monday 13th February 18.45 These are from tonight , very murky hazy conditions , an hour later the mist had thickened up to prevent any more photos. NGC 1647

Lucky gaps for Mars, but tonight is awful seeing. Could barely see the Pleiades or Mars. Very hazy and humid, and some saharan dust likely too.

From a couple of days ago, the weather wasn't ideal.

High clouds around this evening as the comet neared Mars

More lazy astro shots from the last couple of days, Comet E3 heading towards Mars Single exposures 20 seconds 3200/6400 ISO. Pentax K70+Astrotracer with Pentax 55-300mm zoom. Processed in camera and on pixel phone High clouds came across this shot with Mars

This may be helpful https://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-FA-Star-645-300mm-F4-Lens.html

Yesterday evening just as it was clouding over, the comet was near the star Hassaleh. iso 3200 1x 20 seconds 300mm

The seeing was poor this evening before moonrise and quite hazy. Picked up comet E3 ZTF again in the binoculars, it's certainly not as bright, but the haze didn't help. So many satellites crossing the sky too.

Two more from 6-2-23 Not sure if I also picked up C/2022 U2 atlas , the photos are too noisy to tell, and a near full moon. Single exposures iso 6400 20 seconds for first pic. Second pic 10 seconds 300mm zoom. From the 7th before moonrise, the seeing was poor. Trying to find C/2022 U2 atlas near star ETA about 18.45 GMT . Too many stars and CA Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF

Michael Jaeger 🧐 https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=192424

This was from 19.30 on 6-2-23 Pentax K70 + Astrotracer Single shot of 10 seconds ISO 6400 f4.5 zoom lens at 97mm. Edited on pixel phone. Capella at top

This is from mobile Android, a bit confusing really...

Hi Mike Yes I've been looking at Cometwatch http://aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html and it says magnitude being about 10. On Stellarium it's listed as 16. Took a few shots earlier at 300mm , but the moon and my budget setup (DSLR and zoom lens) maybe asking a bit much.

Comet E3 appears near Comet U2 atlas now , if you have the dark sky and equipment as Comet C/2022 U2 atlas is Mag 16.

5-2-23 Taken this evening 18.30 from the garden, just before cloud arrived. Single shot 10 seconds ISO 6400 210mm lens using Pentax astrotracer. Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF and Capella From 2am this morning

02.50 As mentioned above there's a clear sky edging south. I could see the comet with 10x50 bins. Took a few photos, but cloud is starting to develop again now.

Ok so I tried this stack of 10 photos 20 seconds each, iso 6400 and 10 darks in DSS. Its not great and the stars are a bit green. I tried the 2X drizzle setting , not sure if that messed the colours up. This was taken through a 55-300mm zoom at 300mm on 30-1-23 The stack i tried above before had natural colours, does the drizzle setting effect colours? I processed this in Rawtherepee 5.9 , I haven't used that programme for ages.

Most people wouldn't notice the light pollution creeping up around them. If they have no interest in looking up, or even have the time. As long as they have nicely lit paths for 24hours, expanding industrial estates blazing lights all night, but supplying jobs. I've noticed the urban expansion along with the lights in the last 20 years. A location that was reasonably dark a few miles from town, with good horizons all round, is now amongst houses, street lights, and industrial units. Each town is expanding, so the areas between town that were good for sky watching, are shrinking. When trying to escape the lights from one town, you just run into the next. Overpopulated maybe?

Ok thanks , I googled the mount 🙂 You've invested alot of time and money into the astronomy kit.

What type of tracking mount did you use HEQ5? And how do you get the starburst effect on the orange star is it Software? Excuse my questions but I only have basic equipment with a static tripod and DSLR