Comet C-2009 R1 McNaught

[New2Astronomy]

Hi everyone,

I went comet hunting on 11th June 2010. The photo was taken under heavily light polluted skys under central London UK. It was taken with a tamron 300mm lens and a canon 450D.

It can be seen at the top of the photo on the right side. It appears as a greenish star.

The approx location is approx in perseus, south east of Mirphak and north of k Per. its magnitude is +7.00.

This is the first astrophoto i have taken, was worth finding after an hour of guessing where it might be:rolleyes:. i am a complete beginer. Binoculars were useless in the light pollution!!!!

Hope the photo helps people to locate it.

Mo

Skywatcher 127 GOTO

[Pete Presland]

There are a number of Comet McNaughts lately, as he has discovered so many.

over 50 i think very impresssive

[Santo_3]

Hey New2Astronomy! I did the same thing on the same day too! But i could not spot it!

I have canon 500D. I took some photos too and this is the result!

I was wondering what options/configuration did you use!

As for me I used mainly 2 EF lenses. The 18-55 and a 75-300. Both stabilized. Mainly i used a f/4 being the lowest I could get and iso in between 800 and 1200. All of this usually for a capture of 30'' not having a remote controll.

I will attempt this again on th 16th of june when c/2009 Mcnaught should be brighter.

[salvadorb1974]

C/2009 R1 McNaught

my attempt to take a photo of the comet, but I have no mount computer, so before sunrise. better to enjoy seeing it.

SV102ED, T-Ring (homemade) Sony a350.

[New2Astronomy]

Hi Santo_3,

I have the same lenses. I did not use any mounts or remote controls. That photo was taken by hand and the camera was held steady by resting it against the window frame!

The photo posted was taken under full manual mode (M), 1"6 second exposure, f/5.6 and ISO 1600. It was taken with the 75-300mm lens at the 300mm.

When taking the pictures, use your 18-55mm lens at a short exposure length (less than 2 seconds) at a high ISO setting (800 or 1600) until you see the constellation you want.

Use the first photo posted here taken off a screenshot of Stellerium to get an idea of where you need to point your camera. Match it up with the photos you take. Once you got your bearings, slowly increase the length of your lens till you get near the circular area highlighted, see the other 2 screenshots.

Then eventually you will come across the greenish coloured comet , i guess it cant be far off the original photo posted.

hope it helps. lets hope for some clear skys... it seems to be cloudy every night here

Mo