Thank you for your patience while we retrieve your images.
Uploaded 17-Oct-10
Taken 17-Oct-10
Visitors 243


132 of 167 items
Thumbnails
Info
Photo Info

Dimensions2334 x 1556
Original file size1.54 MB
Image typeJPEG
Color spaceUncalibrated
Date modified17-Oct-10 10:31
Comet 103P Hartley 2 at the VCO

Comet 103P Hartley 2 at the VCO

It was a good night with hopes of viewing Jupiter and more glimpses of the comet. Malcom on the deck of the observatory had already spotted the comet by the time I arrived. After getting the coordinates right we could see the diffused comet in the Meade 14 inch. Centering was a bit of a challenge but I thank Jim Cliffe for steering the Paramount to position my target. I took a number of frames with the Meade but I waited until the NP127is could see the target to get my final frames. In spite of the moonlight and some haziness I managed to capture enough frames to get an even better view than previous nights.

Camera: Nikon D700
Telescope: NP127is fl=660mm f/5.2
Filter: IDAS LPS
Sensor ISO: 3200
Exposure: 22 light frames for 30 seconds at f/5.2
Processing: Stacking with Maxim DL 5 Pro using auto one star alignment, sigma clip combine. Final tuning with Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended and Noel Carboni Astronomy Tools 1.6 Actions. Final image is cropped from full frame.