Orpington Astronomical Society

Astronomy => Astrophotography => Topic started by: MarkS on Jan 07, 2015, 23:50:33

Title: Lovejoy Tail Animation
Post by: MarkS on Jan 07, 2015, 23:50:33
I don't know if this will work for you but there's a video here from last night (6 Jan) showing changes in the tail over an 80 minute period.  The tail is very faint and therefore noisy because of being drowned out by moonlight. 

http://www.markshelley.co.uk/Astronomy/2015/lovejoyanim1.avi

I wonder if this is because the comet is perhaps rotating?  It becomes more obvious if you can load the frames up and play them backwards and forwards.

Each video frame is a stack of 7x 1 minute frames done as a "moving average".

Mark
Title: Re: Lovejoy Tail Animation
Post by: Kenny on Jan 08, 2015, 00:56:44
Great video. I can definitely see the tail rotating. I also expect this will be because the comet is rotating.
Title: Re: Lovejoy Tail Animation
Post by: MarkS on Jan 08, 2015, 05:52:50
I'm looking forward to trying this again over a longer time period with higher quality data (i.e. with the moon gone!)

Mark
Title: Re: Lovejoy Tail Animation
Post by: Carole on Jan 08, 2015, 08:31:55
Yes definitely looks like it is rotating.

Carole
Title: Re: Lovejoy Tail Animation
Post by: JohnP on Jan 08, 2015, 08:53:38
Really interesting Mark - defo a clockwise rotation - never seen an animation like this before so really nice work - John
Title: Re: Lovejoy Tail Animation
Post by: RobertM on Jan 08, 2015, 20:51:25
That looks superb.  A darker sky will allow shorter exposures and even more tail detail - that would be even better !

Robert