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COMET CATALINA's convergence with ARCTURUS.

Leveye

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Leveye

Leveye

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Well this to me is the only way to spend a New Year's morning. After 3 weeks of heavy rain and the forecast looking gloomy the storms finally took a break and gave me a few precious nights of clear skies right when I needed them most. Thank the maker. I can now bring to you my final take on the wonderful convergence of one shot Comet Catalina and bright morning star Arcturus.
This is 10-300 second lights @ ISO 800 - 20 darks - 20 flats and 30 bias frames.
 
Using DSS in sigma kappa and comet only mode I made one of just the comet. I then Imaged just the star field the morning after without the comet. Same amount and settings as the first. Stacked those in DSS and then blended the two together plus another single image from new year morning to align exactly where the comet was using layers with screen mode in PS. I then sweetened to taste in LR. Let me know what you think. I gotta go get some sleep now before I fall over....;-)

post-28595-0-45339600-1451767829_thumb.j

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Leveye

Leveye

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Excuse me for being a bit geeky but theres a faint galaxy at the top left hand corner.....been trying to compare your photo with stellarium but cant seem to pinpoint which one it is? Great image though.

Great eye! I think there is one to the lower left as well. According to Stellarium the upper one is IC 987 and the lower one is NGC 5513. Geeks rule!

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Leveye

Leveye

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On the mornings of the 14th and 15th Catalina will be near Alkaid and there will be a great opportunity to capture the Comet,Alkaid and the Pinwheel Galaxy all in one shot. I'd use no longer than 150-200mm FL to capture it all.

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nephilim

nephilim

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Thanks for that (I'll sleep easier tonight haha)& I think your right with the lower one. I dont tend to do alot of imaging (mainly visual) but I do like taking random long exposure starfield shots to see what I can find & this one had me stumped.

Steve

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Leveye

Leveye

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That's fabulous, best image I've seen of it.  Observed it visually and your photo is a wonderful reminder of a great mornings viewing.

Thank you for the kind words. I had my 800mm Newt set up as I was imaging it and like you will never forget seeing it with my own eyes. We have had rain here for weeks on end and it's pretty much a miracle that I was even to see it at all. Cleared just on the days I needed it too. Thank the maker. Happy New Year to you and to all!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Leveye

Leveye

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I really like this image the extra effort taken to time the capture the comet with a 2nd point of interest was well worth it

Thank you that is much appreciated. In all I spent about 14 hours from start to finish from 3a.m. on. Again I hope everyone here gets a shot at capturing it's beauty. Look up!

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