Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS - third time lucky.

[Adreneline]

This was my third attempt to get something worth sharing.

The image comprises 28x4s frames taken with a Sony A7iii with the standard 28-70 kit lens at 28mm.

Pre-processed in APP (without any calibration frames) and processed in PI.

When it comes to stacking and processing comet images this is all new ground for me. (The red linear feature on the extreme left is a tv aerial).

For comparison this was my second attempt taken with a Canon G16 - a single frame.

I won't show my first attempt as it requires too much imagination to discern the comet.

Adrian

 

 

Edited Sunday at 21:31 by Adreneline
Annotation added; typo

[Elp]

What you can also do with the G16 is a timelapse straight from camera using one of the modes, but I'm wondering if it'll allow long enough exposure to pick up the comet. You can do good star lapses with it (good if you've got scopes/imaging rigs in the foreground), or star trails extremely easily.

[Adreneline]

13 minutes ago, Elp said:

What you can also do with the G16 is a timelapse straight from camera using one of the modes, but I'm wondering if it'll allow long enough exposure to pick up the comet. You can do good star lapses with it (good if you've got scopes/imaging rigs in the foreground), or star trails extremely easily.

The G16 is a great piece of kit - better in my opinion than the G5X-MkII I recently sold. I’ve used my G16 for lots of AP related stuff over the past ten years -  it is brilliant for auroras. If you set the G16 to starscape mode it automatically sets the focal length to minimum and that it is not helpful with comets. The G16 is probably the best all round camera I’ve owned. 
 

[Elp]

13 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

The G16 is probably the best all round camera I’ve owned. 

I agree, it's absolutely brilliant. If it worked like a traditional camera when doing long exposure (IE I don't believe you can turn off the auto dark exposures the camera takes after each light so you lose half the imaging time) it'd be nigh on perfect (maybe also could with with an articulated screen).

[Second Time Around]

12 hours ago, Adreneline said:

The G16 is a great piece of kit - better in my opinion than the G5X-MkII I recently sold. I’ve used my G16 for lots of AP related stuff over the past ten years -  it is brilliant for auroras. If you set the G16 to starscape mode it automatically sets the focal length to minimum and that it is not helpful with comets. The G16 is probably the best all round camera I’ve owned. 
 

What don't you like about the G5X Mk II?

I have the Mk I version but haven't used it for astronomy, although it has a lot of astro features.  There's a superb video describing how to use these at https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oUrugWjueN8

I bought it for fishing as it has an articulated screen that is so useful for selfies, especially at night.  In fact, I wouldn't buy a fishing camera without this feature.

[Adreneline]

8 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

What don't you like about the G5X Mk II?

I guess it is a personal thing. The G16 works for me - the menus, the controls, the feel of the thing. The G5's big advantage is the sensor size and resolution but beyond that I found it difficult to use compared with the G16. Yes, an articulating screen would be handy at times. The eyepiece on the G16 is far better than the G5. It all comes down to what suits you and I found the G5 didn't - so I sold it!

Adrian

[saac]

There is a stunning photograph of the comet on today's APOD. I must admit, while the "anti tail" obviously holds scientific interest I do prefer the classical picture of a comet without it. Nonetheless, that does not detract from what is simply a stunning photograph, possibly the definitive photograph if such a thing exists.

Astronomy Picture Of The Day

Jim 

[Elp]

3 hours ago, saac said:

APOD

Just seen it. The issue I seem to have living urban is there's nowt scenic to take it with. Then travelling you don't really want to be taking tracking equipment etc especially if you have to walk a bit.

[saac]

45 minutes ago, Elp said:

Just seen it. The issue I seem to have living urban is there's nowt scenic to take it with. Then travelling you don't really want to be taking tracking equipment etc especially if you have to walk a bit.

I know what what you mean, if only we all had easy access to iconic scenery backdrops. On the other hand these stunning photographs can hide the extraordinary efforts some folk will go to for their art. One of my favourite photographers is Colin Prior. Colin made his name shooting the most remarkable and stunning photographs of the Scottish Munros and countryside. He would drive overnight for hundreds of miles to arrive at his chosen subject, climb the mountain to arrive at the summit before sunrise and if the light wasn't right he would abandon the session. He is by far they best landscape photographer I have come across, his work is breathtaking. He was also born and grew up in the same part of Scotland as me, which can't be bad either  

 

Colin Prior

 

Jim 

[mcrowle]

Been planning to image A3 again, this time without the Full Moon. The last 2 evenings were forecast clear, but didn’t deliver. Similarly, this evening is supposed to be clear - it’s looking hopeless at the moment, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Regards, Mike.

[TiffsAndAstro]

1 hour ago, mcrowle said:

Been planning to image A3 again, this time without the Full Moon. The last 2 evenings were forecast clear, but didn’t deliver. Similarly, this evening is supposed to be clear - it’s looking hopeless at the moment, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Regards, Mike.

moon is not up for me right now and should be almost opposite side of the sky ignore my guiding, i just pointed scope via nina and thought some guiding is better than none?

30 second subs set it going for an hour had to look up A3's ra and dec in stellarium and type it into framing assistant. hrf also a bit rubbish but i think it will work out ok. now to google some comet stacking in siril stuff

 

Edited Monday at 18:01 by TiffsAndAstro

[TiffsAndAstro]

also just noticed one of the multistars phd2 has chosen for guiding is.....comet a3 lol

 

Edited Monday at 18:08 by TiffsAndAstro

[saac]

5 hours ago, Elp said:

Just seen it. The issue I seem to have living urban is there's nowt scenic to take it with. Then travelling you don't really want to be taking tracking equipment etc especially if you have to walk a bit.

@Elp  just following on from this I thought it worthwhile sharing this photo from the BBC News site. Maybe the challenge for us in urban environments is to be a bit more daring. I think this too is a cracking photograph, very atmospheric.  I guess it is about having the presence of mind to maybe remember to try to get something interesting in the foreground of the shot.  With my photo of A3 had I had the presence of mind to step back a few feet I could have included a silhouetted stone tower/monument in the foreground. Ach well no good after the shot has been taken  

SuperMoon from Dundee

Jim

[TiffsAndAstro]

41 minutes ago, saac said:

@Elp  just following on from this I thought it worthwhile sharing this photo from the BBC News site. Maybe the challenge for us in urban environments is to be a bit more daring. I think this too is a cracking photograph, very atmospheric.  I guess it is about having the presence of mind to maybe remember to try to get something interesting in the foreground of the shot.  With my photo of A3 had I had the presence of mind to step back a few feet I could have included a silhouetted stone tower/monument in the foreground. Ach well no good after the shot has been taken  

SuperMoon from Dundee

Jim

Looks like manga. Life imitating art

My foreground choice for the comet was either dorma roof or a out of focus hedge

 

Edited Monday at 22:03 by TiffsAndAstro

[mcrowle]

Following my earlier, and slightly pessimistic, post in this thread, I did head to the usual beach location to image Comet A3. (The comet's location cannot be seen from home).

Widespread thin cloud, as seen in the brief timelapse below, made imaging tricky, but I did have some success. The 135mm lens image, a single frame with minimal processing, also below, was taken later when much of the cloud had cleared - though by then the comet was low in the murk and light pollution.

Regards, Mike.

[TiffsAndAstro]

Just now, mcrowle said:

Following my earlier, and slightly pessimistic, post in this thread, I did head to the usual beach location to image Comet A3. (The comet's location cannot be seen from home).

Widespread thin cloud, as seen in the brief timelapse below, made imaging tricky, but I did have some success. The 135mm lens image, a single frame with minimal processing, also below, was taken later when much of the cloud had cleared - though by then the comet was low in the murk and light pollution.

Regards, Mike.

That's really cool. Lots of tail. How long subs and how many ?

[mcrowle]

49 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

That's really cool. Lots of tail. How long subs and how many ?

Thanks! The 135mm lens image was just one sub, of 30 sec at ISO 3200 and f/4. I will eventually stack more frames, but I have variable amounts of cloud in them and have not decided which ones to include.

The timelapse employed 18 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 f/2.8 frames.

Regards, Mike.

Edited Monday at 22:59 by mcrowle

[Elp]

41 minutes ago, saac said:

Maybe the challenge for us in urban environments is to be a bit more daring.

It's a nice photo.

The other issue is in populated areas you're more likely to be "disturbed" by, what I can only pigeonhole as, idiots.

I tried looking for Tsuchinshan at home, I can't because it's behind a high hedge/tree and any immediate spot is infringed upon by LED. So the past few days I've been looking at maps to find a spot, managed to find and go to one tonight, nearby car park check, green public open space check, so quite some space of darkness check. Now pretty much any place which might seem ideal for stargazing in my experience is perpetrated by idiots whom don't have homes or social places to go to and hang out there to. After around 10-15 minutes of my imaging the comet, a lingering car which had its lights off a few metres behind me (there's a surrounding gating/railing surrounding the car park from the park likely to put off more unsocilites), drove off, came back and then had headlights on blaring just as I was about to swap to a visual scope as if (I) was infringing on (their private) space. As with any off site viewing it's always wise to err on the safe side so I decided to leave as I was alone in the relative pitch black (no lights where I was sited compared to the footpaths and street lighting around the park).

Why such people exist I don't know.

[Elp]

4 minutes ago, mcrowle said:

Thanks! The 135mm lens image was just one frame, 30 sec at ISO 3200 and f/4. I will eventually stack more frames, but I have variable amounts of cloud in them and have not decided which ones to include.

The timelapse employed 18 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 f/2.8 frames.

Regards, Mike.

Tracked though?

I was imaging 180mm and could barely do half second exposures. I really want to do my usual deep sky tracking on this but won't do it if I'm not left alone to do it comfortably.

[Elp]

Apologies to OP, this thread has gone way off track, but the positive is its spurred on a lot of discussion.

[mcrowle]

4 minutes ago, Elp said:

Tracked though?

I was imaging 180mm and could barely do half second exposures. I really want to do my usual deep sky tracking on this but won't do it if I'm not left alone to do it comfortably.

Yes, I used a Vixen Polarie star tracker. The camera was an astro-modded EOS 600D. (Astro-modification does not benefit comets, but I use it with the star tracker because it’s my lightest camera). Fortunately the beach is very quiet after dark, especially outside the Summer months.

Regards, Mike.

Edited Monday at 22:26 by mcrowle

[saac]

12 minutes ago, Elp said:

It's a nice photo.

The other issue is in populated areas you're more likely to be "disturbed" by, what I can only pigeonhole as, idiots.

I tried looking for Tsuchinshan at home, I can't because it's behind a high hedge/tree and any immediate spot is infringed upon by LED. So the past few days I've been looking at maps to find a spot, managed to find and go to one tonight, nearby car park check, green public open space check, so quite some space of darkness check. Now pretty much any place which might seem ideal for stargazing in my experience is perpetrated by idiots whom don't have homes or social places to go to and hang out there to. After around 10-15 minutes of my imaging the comet, a lingering car which had its lights off a few metres behind me (there's a surrounding gating/railing surrounding the car park from the park likely to put off more unsocilites), drove off, came back and then had headlights on blaring just as I was about to swap to a visual scope as if (I) was infringing on (their private) space. As with any off site viewing it's always wise to err on the safe side so I decided to leave as I was alone in the relative pitch black (no lights where I was sited compared to the footpaths and street lighting around the park).

Why such people exist I don't know.

Now that could be scary. There is an app called PhotoPils that allows you to plan a photo of an astro event taking into account points of geographical interest. So for example you could be on holiday in say Blackpool or Skye and you could do the planning, time , angles to horizon etc, to get your eclipsing moon with the tower or the Black Cuillin . It's quite a powerful app but I must admit, while I've had it for about 2 years now,  I've yet to use it properly  

Jim

[Elp]

Just now, saac said:

It's quite a powerful app but I must admit, while I've had it for about 2 years now,  I've yet to use it properly

I've had it for probably 6-8 years, never really used it. But it's really powerful for planning "the" shot, at the moment I'm happy just capturing targets. Capturing targets within an interestingly composed foreground/environment at the time of the event (not post processed replaced afterwards, IE faked) takes a lot of work, especially if you're not local to the area of shooting. The late great Alyn Wallace was good at these opportunistic planned shots.

[Adreneline]

1 hour ago, Elp said:

Apologies to OP, this thread has gone way off track, but the positive is its spurred on a lot of discussion.

No apologies required - it’s all interesting stuff.

10 hours ago, saac said:

There is a stunning photograph of the comet on today's APOD. I must admit, while the "anti tail" obviously holds scientific interest I do prefer the classical picture of a comet without it. Nonetheless, that does not detract from what is simply a stunning photograph, possibly the definitive photograph if such a thing exists.

Astronomy Picture Of The Day

Jim 

Interesting. For me this APOD does nothing - purely a personal thing I am sure - I’m afraid to my eyes it looks so “contrived.” I know this is heresy to suggest such a thing but there it is - I’ve gone and said it. 

[saac]

5 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

No apologies required - it’s all interesting stuff.

Interesting. For me this APOD does nothing - purely a personal thing I am sure - I’m afraid to my eyes it looks so “contrived.” I know this is heresy to suggest such a thing but there it is - I’ve gone and said it. 

Not at all, not heresy at all, great thing about personal taste is that it is personal. We can't all like Daft Punk or the Bee Gees  

Jim