Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10)

[Davide Simonetti]

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) passing through Ursa Major on the morning of January 20th 2016. Processed with and without star trails.

24 x 1 minute exposures at 3200 ISO

11 x dark frames

7 x flat frames

21 x bias/offset frames

Guided with PHD

Processed in Maxim DL, Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker,and Photoshop

[laudropb]

Very nice captures.

[Pete Presland]

Some good detail i think i prefer the streaks as stars it gives a sense of the movement of the comet.

[Davide Simonetti]

Some good detail i think i prefer the streaks as stars it gives a sense of the movement of the comet.

Yes, I prefer the image with the streaky stars too because it shows more detail on the comet. I used to find the streaky stars a bit of a distraction but I don't mind so much these days. I was trying to get that quality of image without the stars streaking but wasn't able to do it. The streaky star shot was processed in Maxim DL and the static star shot was processed in Deep Sky Stacker, a program I haven't used for ages. As far as I can tell only DSS can process both the comet and the stars and the end result is a bit disappointing. I'd love to be able to do it in Nebulosity which is the program I use the most but if it is possible I haven't figured out how yet. 

[Tonk]

Nice - the star trails version shows a wide faint  "hood" aligned with the thin tail.

[Mr Spock]

I like the top one, it has a lot of detail. Lovely colour too.

[orion25]

Fabulous images! The star trails really give a sense of motion to the comet as it speeds out of our solar system at 100,000+mph!

 

Regards,

Reggie

[Davide Simonetti]

52 minutes ago, Tonk said:

Nice - the star trails version shows a wide faint  "hood" aligned with the thin tail.

Ah thanks, I was hoping that was the case. I've never had much luck resolving the tails of comets but this is the closest I've come so far