It has been a few days since I got out to image Comet ISON but I finally made it out this morning...trying to beat the Moon which will shortly be returning to the morning sky. Much to my surprise, ISON has brightened up quite a bit since Sunday morning. It was easy in 8x42 binoculars and its nucleus is much brighter. Again I set up my Canon 60D with a EF-s 55-250mm zoom lens. The following pic is at 250mm, f/5.6, ISO 5000 and a 90 second exposure.
Not hard to see the bright nucleus and the tail is developing. If you look to the left of the comet, you might notice a faint blue smudge. I believe that is galaxy NGC 4697. I have seen other people post pics from earlier today on the internet (most using telescopes) and I got my smudge in the same place they got a galaxy. I am happy I got it using my less extravagant equipment. Visually, it was pretty easy in 8x42 binoculars and looking good in 20x80s.
I turned my attention to Comet Lovejoy, still riding high in Leo and a very nice site. Pretty much the same settings for this shot as the previous one.
I looked briefly for Comet Encke again but didn't find it this time...I didn't spend too much time on it as it is getting pretty low in they sky. However, the fourth I haven't nabbed yet, Comet LINEAR, was passing close to Arcturus so I went for it. It proved to be very difficult. I barely got it and was debating whether to post this photo at all, but what the hey, see if you can spot the VERY faint blue smudge toward the top of the image above Arcturus (clicking to look at a larger version might help). The comet is slightly left of directly above Arcturus (the brightest star) near the top of the photo. I might go back and add an arrow pointing to it later.
Like I said, not very impressive at all, but I went for it to add a notch to the proverbial comet belt.
The weather may get dicey in Tucson over the weekend and the Moon will soon return to the morning sky, but I will try to get out every couple of days to observe.
On another note, I was on Kitt Peak last night. Lots of photos that I have to put together into time lapses and star trail photos. Busy few days so it may take a while to get to it, but I am looking forward to trying some new things!
Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
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4 comments:
Universe Today should be using more of your photos. Very nice, hale!
Some different thoughts about ISON and how the Universe works is discussed at Dark Matters a Lot.
ISON is putting on quite a show and hopefully it will become visible to the naked eye. Meanwhile,Uncertainty Grows as its Tail Shows
It's a problem when you get Physicists, Chemists and competing theories all trying to explain what ISON is.
Do you know these guys?
This website is a record of observations of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) by amateurs Bruce Gary, Dennis Whitmer and Tom kaye, using 11-inch, 14-inch and 32-inch telescopes, respectively. We live a few miles from each other in Hereford Arizona.
Enjoy.
Hale, how can we get a star or planet or something named for the JTIs?
love the pictures.........thanks
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