March 2nd 2013
C/2012 S1 Comet ISON
This is still very faint.
The expected position at 7:45 pm was RA 06 49 37.5 DEC +31 30 22
This platesolve gives RA 06 49 37.45 DEC 31 30 22.9
This shows the movement in 20 minutes. (Look near centre of image).
A short tail can be seen to the left of the comet.
IC 443 Jellyfish nebula
Total of 25 10 minute frames in Ha
Different processing to show maximum nebulosity.
I also took a new series of darks which improved the signal to noise ratio.
March 13th
C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
It was very difficult to get. The sky was still bright and I scanned the area with binoculars until I spotted it very low down between bands of clouds. I could not use my 'big' telescope because my house is in the way so I employed a small Skywatcher with my Canon 350D camera. The problem was that the comet was too small and dim to see in the viewfinder so I had to point the telescope and hope for the best. After about 6 minutes of duds I got it, just in time before it went behind a neighbour's house.
This is a 1 second exposure at ISO 800, taken at 19:19:43
| This animation shows the comet taken at intervals
of about 20 seconds. (The apparent movement of the comet is due to the Earth's rotation, not the speed of the comet!) |
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