Neat on the 16th May

[Whitters]

Fourty one 20 second exposures, MX916, 300mm f2.8 camera lens with Astronomik IR block filter. 16th May at 22:40 UT
Heavy unsharp mask to bring out streamers in the tail.

Thru the scope the nucleus was stellar with a bright halo. The comet was easy in binoculars.

[Mike]

Wow !! WHy are the stars trailed Paul? Did you recenter on the nucleus after each 20 second exposure or did you set the scope to track the movement of the comet?

[Whitters]

The drive is "following the stars" but the comet is moving in a different path when compared to the fixed stars.

20 seconds was long enoutgh to image the comet without noticeable trailing of the nucleus.

Then for the stack, insted of aligning to the stars which would result in a trailed comet, we allign on the nucleus, with the result of trailed stars.

[Whitters]

Question for Greg,
The origional images show a stella nucleus and fuzzy  halo, but then you can't see the tail. What needs to be done to show both the tail and the stella nucleus?

[Mike]

Ahhh, I see !! Excellent image by the way, great detail in the tail. Makes it look quite interesting when you can see such detail ! Hopefully the sky will be clear enough down the field tonight to have a go (looking a bit cloudy at the moment though  )

[JohnP]

Any idea why I can't see the picture - all I get is an X where it should be?

John

[Rick]

What browser are you using? It's a PNG format file, and some older browsers might not know what to do with it.

Incidentally there are also some PNG files on the OAS Gallery Archive. Do you have the same trouble there? Here's a page with an example:
http://gal.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/gal094.html

[ This Message was edited by: Rick on 2004-05-18 18:06 ]

[JohnP]

Hi Rick,

Thanks - I'm using Microsoft Internet Explorer vers 6.0 I had no problem viewing the other picture on the link you gave...?

Cheers,  John

[Rick]

...and if you try to look at the image via a direct link, what happens?

[Whitters]

I'm using IE6.0.28 and image is OK

[JohnP]

Hi,

I've just logged on now I'm back home (previously trying to do it from Stuttgart) & no problem with the viewing - I guess the server or provider I was using to access the Internet must have been blocking something.

Anyhow, great picture - Is this comet going to continue to get more impressive or is it past its peak?

Thks for all the help & suggestions.

[Whitters]

Good to see you are back John. Unfortunately the comet is now past it's best and will slowly fade. However it is still fairly bright. See http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.asp?cid=C%2F2001+Q4 and http://rascmtl.tripod.com/events/comet_neat.htm