July 15, 2020: NEOWISE, a 10 minute stack, or: when 100 mm just isn't wide enough

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just stacked 20 of last night's images, taken with the Canon EOS 80D and the inimitable Sigma 50-100 mm F/1.8 ART zoom, at 100 mm and F/1.8, at ISO 200. I used the EQ3-2 to track on the stars. I do have some more data, but stacking more than 10 minutes at this focal length shows too much comet motion. I might try later to do some starless processing. The is also the issue of some thin cloud starting to invade the FOV, so I am not sure adding more subs will help.

I should perhaps have put the nucleus further to the bottom left, or just have used a wider setting on the lens, as the tail just doesn't fit. Very pleased, and I think it is my best comet shot ever.

 

[Moonshane]

Getting better and better Michael. Just wish I could see it !!☁🌧

[Victor Boesen]

That's an amazing image!! Great job

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

8 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

Getting better and better Michael. Just wish I could see it !!☁🌧

Sorry to hear you are still out of luck

[Moonshane]

Cheers Michael. I did thankfully take the opportunity to see it on Saturday night but really would like to do a sketch and see it again 😊

[Scooot]

Brilliant image.  

[thomasv]

Beautiful. Wonder how dark your sky is and are you using any LP filters? Do cal with darks / flats, etc? Thanks.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, thomasv said:

Beautiful. Wonder how dark your sky is and are you using any LP filters? Do cal with darks / flats, etc? Thanks.

 

The skies are not that dark, as the sun doesn't go far enough below the northern horizon, but there isn't much in the way of artificial light around where I took these images. I don't use an LP filter but do use darks, flats, dark flats, and bias frames. I stacked in Astro Pixel Processor, removed much of the sky background with its light pollution reduction tool, and then tweak the image in GIMP (curves, and a slight saturation boost).

 

 

[thomasv]

Thank you for the reply. I wonder if I should get Astro Pixel Processor, I hear from more and more people who use it, might as well try the free 30 day license. I have AstroArt, maybe I'm just not good enough at using it.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 minute ago, thomasv said:

Thank you for the reply. I wonder if I should get Astro Pixel Processor, I hear from more and more people who use it, might as well try the free 30 day license. I have AstroArt, maybe I'm just not good enough at using it.

 

I really love APP, it was a breath of fresh air after struggling with DSS. Really intuitive to use. All it misses is a comet stacking mode.