Stacking comet images tracked on the comet?

[tooth_dr]

In my infinite wisdom I thought that actually tracking the comet using PHD would be a good idea!

To my surprise it worked, and I gathered a few 5 minute subs with my mono camera and some with my DSLR of 21P/GZ.

I tried briefly last night to stack with DSS and chose ‘no alignment’.  Any other choice failed to stack the comet.

Is there a better way to stack?

 

[lux eterna]

In DSS Help section, search for "comet stacking". I have not tried it myself, but it is woth testing.

Ragnar

[alexbb]

Does it work if you choose no alignment?

Make 2 versions. One without alignment, one with alignment. Both with sigma clipping. One to get rid of the stars, the other to get rid of the comet. Then combine in some other app. GIMP should work with lighten only.

[tooth_dr]

4 hours ago, moise212 said:

Does it work if you choose no alignment?

Make 2 versions. One without alignment, one with alignment. Both with sigma clipping. One to get rid of the stars, the other to get rid of the comet. Then combine in some other app. GIMP should work with lighten only.

Yes it works with no alignment. I’ve attached a test of 6 frames below, so that is 30 mins exposure, choosing ‘no alignment’

All frames are 300s so there is a bit of trailing, as I guided on the comet nucleus.  I will try your suggestion. 

[tooth_dr]

4 hours ago, lux eterna said:

In DSS Help section, search for "comet stacking". I have not tried it myself, but it is woth testing.

Ragnar

Thanks Ragnar. I did try this last night but I don’t think I did it right, well it didn’t seem to work. May need to read the instructions ?

[Stub Mandrel]

You have to click on the comet in every sub, it doesn't have to be dead centre. It's easy to get it wrong, but I've nabbed a couple of comets that way.

P.S. I like your picture!

[tooth_dr]

25 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

You have to click on the comet in every sub, it doesn't have to be dead centre. It's easy to get it wrong, but I've nabbed a couple of comets that way.

P.S. I like your picture!

Thanks!  I didn't realised you had to click on each image!