Comet Atlas 22/10 - Up Close and Personal

[WolfieGlos]

This was a lucky capture, we arrived home from a week's holiday yesterday, and the forecast changed from rain (for several days) to clear skies - all between the time we left and the time we got back. Better still, it was true!

Luckily both the wife and baby were tired, so off they went to bed very early leaving me to my own devices. I didn't think I'd be able to capture the Comet yet due to local trees, but I was pleasantly surprised to not only see it, but how bright it is, and then to capture just over an hour of data during Nautical to Astro dark time.

Comet stacking has always been hit and miss for me in the past, but this time it worked in the newer version DeepSkyStacker. I still had to stack the Comet and Stars separately, and then used PI to bring them together to form a composite image.

The 585mc is a bit restrictive for the FOV, so I might have a shot at this again with the DSLR because that tail is SO long !

ZWO ASI 585mc + Starfield 102ED + 0.8 Reducer on HEQ5
Astronomik L2 UV/IR Filter
Gain 252, 102 x 20s lights + 25 darkflats + 20 flats
TOTAL TIME: 01:08:00
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker
Edited in Pixinsight, XT Suite and GIMP

Click to enlarge and get the non-pixelated version. Comments welcome as always  

Edited Wednesday at 21:55 by WolfieGlos

[scotty1]

Looks great  

Would be good printed up to a large nice size. 

 

[WolfieGlos]

52 minutes ago, scotty1 said:

Looks great  

Would be good printed up to a large nice size. 

 

Thanks scotty! It might make my calendar for this year, then I can see how well it'll print 🙂

[scotty1]

Astro calendar sounds good, what's the best service for getting a decent calendar made? 

The weather isn't looking good for a few days. Early November could be settled, might be hazy/humid though. 

[geoflewis]

Excellent capture and processing. It looks really good.

[WolfieGlos]

12 hours ago, scotty1 said:

Astro calendar sounds good, what's the best service for getting a decent calendar made? 

The weather isn't looking good for a few days. Early November could be settled, might be hazy/humid though. 

I've used Snapfish in the past, but any of those types of websites do a pretty good job. They almost always have deals on, so look for those.

Fingers crossed for early November!

11 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Excellent capture and processing. It looks really good.

Thanks Geof!

[scotty1]

Sunday's weather not looking too bad at the moment.