Lovejoy tail animation

[sharkmelley]

The picture in my other thread (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/233625-lovejoy-c2014-q2-with-tail-6-jan) shows blurry tail detail.  It is now possible to demonstrate why. I have put together an animation covering a period of 80 minutes.  Over this period there are obvious changes in tail appearance which may be the result of the comet nucleus rotating.

Each video frame is an average of 7 x 1minute exposures to reduce noise.  It is done in the manner of a "moving average" so the original 76 exposures create 23 video frames.  Clearly, owing to the strong moonlight, the movie is not of the highest quality.  I certainly want to try this again when the moon is out of the way.

Since the forum doesn't permit me to upload an avi file, I have put it at the following Dropbox location:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lsly7sy398ste78/lovejoyanim20150106.avi?dl=0

It is just over 2 Megabytes.  The quality is much better if you download the file before playing it.

Mark

[Paul M]

Excellent work Mark. 

Looking forward to your efforts when the Moon is out of the way.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice work

[Ant]

That is excellent

Very impressive animation!

Ant

[Mick J]

Very nice, I would say a download and repeated play with a bit of stop/start, it's over in a flash.  Wounderful to see the tail twisting, thanks, good work, and just a trailer for the no moon epic ?  looking forward to it.

[Davey-T]

Thanks for making the effort Mark, haven't even managed to image the tail yet.

Dave

[sharkmelley]

Hopefully we'll get a clear night sometime soon and I can make an improved animation.

[Davey-T]

Hopefully we'll get a clear night sometime soon and I can make an improved animation.

Maybe get a shot of those flying pigs at the same time 

Dave

[sharkmelley]

Indeed.  The forecast is a conveyor belt of bad weather from the Atlantic.  Typical!