Inspired by Steppenwolf - C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy variations on a theme

[Psychobilly]

My last efforts on the 120s dataset from 18/01/2015....

DSS Comet Mode Average Stacking produced startrails - the gaps are due to rejected frames with heavy cloud cover... 56x120s  Canon 5DIII Canon EF 200/2.8L II @f3.5 ISO800

56x120s Comet Lovejoy Startrails discontinuity due to passing clouds by psmithuk, on Flickr

DSS Comet Mode Median Stacking produced  greatly reduced startrails.... 56x120s  Canon 5DIII Canon EF 200/2.8L II @f3.5 ISO800

56x120s Comet Lovejoy Supressed Stars QS by psmithuk, on Flickr

DSS Standard mode KS Stacking with the first and last 3 subs of the night to show Comet movement over  the 2 hour 20 min  length of the session against a "static" starfield...

6x120s  Canon 5DIII Canon EF 200/2.8L II @f3.5 ISO800

Comet Lovejoy 18 Jan 2015 1920 GMT and 2130GMT Anotated by psmithuk, on Flickr

Thanks for looking...

Peter...

[NadrejN]

Looks great and a lot of data 

Did you maybe try to make an animation, there might be some interesting detail in the tail over 2 hours.

[Psychobilly]

I have but at  200mm FL with the full frame sensor an animation of the full frame was pretty boring when re-sized to 1920x1080  - it was really hard to see the comet movement against the starfield -  I guess I could record a PS  and action to crop  a 1920x1080 around the centre of the frame do the post processing...

Peter...

[steppenwolf]

Excellent, Peter - you have some great detail in that enormous tail! The Median cut has worked well too - I'm still working on a guaranteed method to remove ALL traces of the stars though as that would be perfect for blending into a star field with the comet suppressed.

[RichM63]

I knew when I opened this thread that I would see something special. Once more you did not disappoint. Great work.

[Mick J]

 Psychobilly after Steppenwolf, I would be happy to bump into you both on a dark night, love this Lovejoy, framing seems just right to me lots of well defined tail almost like a torch beam coming from the comet.  Good work as usual Peter, thanks.

[happy-kat]

The first image is pretty striking

[Psychobilly]

Excellent, Peter - you have some great detail in that enormous tail! The Median cut has worked well too - I'm still working on a guaranteed method to remove ALL traces of the stars though as that would be perfect for blending into a star field with the comet suppressed.

Thats an approx 60% crop from the full frame... I cropped it due to vignetting and the fact DSS was having a hissy fit  with anything involving calibration frames .. It didn't do that well with just the lights it probably only  stacked properly 1 in 4 attempts...

Need some clear skies to play with the 7DII...

Peter...