How to Image Comet Lulin Help required.

[ribuck]

Hi All,

Just wanted to ask some questions on the bets way to image comet lulin.

I have a Heq5 Pro mount with a Starlight MX916 with star 2000 interface. I believe my camera is well suited to comets due to it's high sensativity and large pixelsize.

When i try to image the comet, what sort of exposure length should i be aiming ? not sure if i should be using longer exposures or a lot of shorter exposures.

Also, in terms of target size, will i need to use any sort of Barlow ? I have a 2x Celeston Ultima and a 4x Image mate that i can use if need be.

Rich.

[brendant]

It is moving very fast Rich, try 30 - 60 seconds, there is definite trailing at 120 seconds, maybe a mixture of exposures. Its a balance between reducing the trailing and capturing the faint tail, one option is to guide on the Comet if possible, this will give the best result.

Brendan

[jgs001]

Rich, I just went for it, as I could tell there wasn't a lot of time. I took 2.5 minute shots. It's clear that the nucleus has trailed, but when I stacked them, it worked fine.