It was clear last night, of course. That’s because I hadn’t expected it to be and hadn’t made any plans. The fact that our main scope is temporarily down until Monday is also a major factor, I’m sure. The astronomy gods love taunting me.
The first thing I did when I discovered it was clear was to grab Alex, our binoculars and the laser pointer (thanks again Steve!!) and dash outside to show Alex the comet. It was late and she was only moderately enthusiastic. I was afraid it would cloud over any second, but there were no clouds. Amazing. I was surprised to see that Comet Holmes had gotten so big and dim since the last time I’d seen it. However, it was still visible naked eye in the light pollution and prominent in the binoculars. Alex was impressed.
I had left my CG-5 mount set up and aligned in the SkyShed from the last time I was out there a week ago, so I grabbed my 4″ scope and camera and dashed out. I spent the next two hours re-aligning my “already aligned” mount (@#%$!), then taking photos of the comet for about two hours. I’ve included one of them here. Unprocessed and compressed for your viewing pleasure. Exposure was 30 seconds, ISO800, f/6 500 mm (4″ refractor). I took a number of these as well as some dark, bias and flat field frames. I will post the stacked, processed image once I have a chance to.
Cheers,
Ann
Update: I’ve posted the stacked and processed version of this photo below. There is a bit more detail visible. I think the concentric rings in the halo are an artifact of the processing stage. Comments?
