Comet ISON Tuesday 19th November 2013

Comet ISON, also known  as C/2012 S1 is a sungrazing comet discovered on 21 September 2012 by Vitali Nevski, and Artyom Novichonok.  Comet ISON’s nucleus is around 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in diameter. Comet ISON  orbit will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 28 November 2013 at a distance of 1,860,000 km; or 1,150,000 miles from the center point of the Sun. Its trajectory appears to be hyperbolic, which suggests that it is a dynamically new comet coming freshly from the Oort Cloud. On its closest approach, Comet ISON will pass about 64,210,000 km; 39,900,000 miles from Earth on 26 December 2013.


Comet ISON/2012 S1 is expected to be brightest around the time it is closest to the Sun; however, it may be less than 1° from the Sun at its closest, making it difficult to see against the Sun's glare. In December, Comet ISON  will be growing dimmer, but, assuming that it remains intact, it will be visible from both hemispheres of Earth, possibly with a long tail. Comet ISON  will be well placed for observers in the northern hemisphere during mid to late December 2013.  After perihelion, it will move north on the celestial sphere, passing within two degrees of Polaris on 8 January.

PanStarrs TimeLapse 27th-28th April 2013

Panstarrs on video !  On April 27th-28th, 146 RAW DSLR images were captured using an 8" SCT on the pier at the WYAS Observatory. Collated in to a 15 second time lapse video, it shows the Panstarrs Comet moving across the sky. The comet was roughly 57° north-northwest of the Sun. in Cepheus, less than 1° east of the large emission nebula NGC 7822, also known as Cederblad 214. Because of its position, high in the northern sky, the comet will remain above the horizon all night for observers north of latitude 23° north.
(Video may not show / play on an iPad / MAC this is being resolved sorry for the inconvienence)

 

Comet Panstarrs - 27th April 2013

We finally managed to find Comet Panstarrs from the observatory pad last night, but it was very low down in the glow from Pontefract, so not easy to image!
This is a stack of 15 2-minute guided exposures using my EOS 550d DSLR on the back of a William Optics Zenithstar 80. It was visibly moving between images, so I've stacked the frames based on the comet, hence the star trails. The long 'pause' in the trails was due to a bank of cloud that graced us with its presence, but it did provide a good opportunity to get a brew on and take some darks. 
I stacked it with DeepSkyStacker and very crudely processed it with CS5.  I'll see if Bill can tweak some more detail out of the raw stack file on Tuesday!

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - 21:00hrs, 17/09/2011

Comet Garradd is now moving from the Coathanger towards Hercules, here it is in 'no man's land' between the two. It seems to have developed a slightly more promenant tail since I last photographed it.
The image is a stack of 15 30sec exposures with a Canon EOS550D and Skywatcher 200p. A coma corrector and light pollution filter were also used.

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - 23:00hrs, 01/09/2011

After passing M71 in Sagitta, Comet Garradd is now moving past Brocchi's Cluster (the Coathanger) in Vulpecula.

This is a stack of 15 jpegs straight from my camera, taken through a 70mm Televue Pronto refractor. The Coathanger is too big to fit in the field of view of my Skywatcher 200P! It's the first time I've used a refractor for astrophotography and the resulting image is by no means perfect, I seem to have blue halos around the bright stars. The frames were stacked based on the stars which means I've got slight trailing on the comet itself and shows just how fast it's moving. The total equivalent exposure time is 21 minutes.

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - 23:00hrs, 27/08/2011

This is an image of Comet Garradd passing M71 in the constellation of Sagitta. Being in the middle of the MilkyWay, the backdrop of stars really enhances the shot. M71 is the 'loose' Globular cluster in the upper left corner of the image, while the star Zeta Sge lies in the bottom right.

Taken, from my back garden, with a Canon EOS550D on a Skywatcher 200P using a coma corrector (essential for star fields like this!) and light pollution filter. It's a stack of 18 30sec frames with darks and flats, processed with DeepSkyStacker and the Gimp.

Another good photo opportunity is coming up during the first few days of September when this comet passes Brocchi's cluster, better known as the Coathanger. Stay tuned!

Comet 103P Hartley - 101019

Taken with a William 98FLT on an AP 900GTO mount, 60 unguided frames of 60 sec each, then manually stacked on the comet in AstroArt and further processed in Photoshop. If you magnify the trails enough you'll see the individual star images. The long trails are indicative of the speed it's moving across our sky, though this should slow as it moves away from us and it should have started that on the 20th.
Not as bright as the pundits forecast, quite difficult to see in binoculars though easier in a telescope except when the Moon is as big and bright and close as it has been this week.
Brian