CCD vs Film? Lots of time vs no patience? Alright, this is your place to discuss all the astrophotography what's and what's not. You can discuss about techniques, accessories, cameras, whatever....just make sure you also post some nice photos here too!
While it looked to continue with clear skies, I went up to the Pasir Ris Park to shoot M45. Wanted to see if 135mmF2 wide open + ASI183MM Pro could bring out in the nebulosity.
The lens did not disappoint even with the 2.4um tiny pixels.
I didnot get 2hrs worth of data because the clouds creeped in -- and I had to throw away 18min subs due to a suspected issue. Ended up with 68x60s after rejecting only a few subs.
It seems the field nebulosity around M45 is there, but stretching it out will ruin the image due to sensor noise issues -- I guess dithering would have done a great help here.
I then tried to overlay color data from last year's shot.
I woke up early and was pleased to see the clear sky around 4:30AM. I quickly packed up and headed for the Paris Rise Park site (which was used for the above M45 photo). This time I decided to use the full-frame mirrorless cam than my APSC astro-cam -- which otherwise would not be able to cover the necessary FOV for the twin targets : the comet C/2021 A1 and M3.
I wasted the majority of the subs -- with only 17 of acceptable tracking quality. But it is nice to see this event captured. Tomorrow it will be in a better (closer) position -- but chances are the sky will be cloudy.
Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard has gained brightness to reach ~m5 (according to http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/). This early morning went up to the Paris Ris Park. Oh the strong winds! Even 10s subs hardly see nice round stars. I dropped probably the majority of all subs (due to shaking images or all sorts of clouds), and the rest 32 frames stacked into this photo.
The comet's position is accelerating towards the sun, making it increasingly difficult to capture especially when the low altitude skies are often cloudy.
Last edited by hhzhang on Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
LookingForScope wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 10:30 am
Wow that is a nicely time moon shot!!
Aha! That's purely coincidental. The late afternoon to evening time saw pretty cloudy skies and I spent most of the time outside cycling and eating with family. Back at home near 9PM I was surprised to see a familiar crescent hanging low over the horizon due southwest. The visibility was poor due to the mist/high clouds. But I just wanted to capture another young waxing crescent moon -- the last such one for my 2021.
It was probably the last chance to shoot the comet Leonard before it comes too close to the sun. It is really accelerating. Despite the increased brightness, it was difficult to capture details as it never reached a high altitude in the predawn hour -- or even in twilight. Tomorrow the situation will get much worse.
Here is an animated image sequence. Each frame is a 30s exposure.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/M4fkHgUHqFE[/youtube]
I failed to spot it in my 7x50 bino view.
Look forward to seeing it again when it has turned around the sun to appear in the evening skies.
The evening saw less-cloudy skies and I hoped for a number of fine shots of comet Leonard. Ended up with only 3x15s of acceptable quality. But voala, the comet did not disappoint -- it literally brightened up surprisingly yesterday and this evening it shined at mag4.6 according to http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/2021A1
Along with this brightness, the coma looks nice -- and the beginning part of the tail turns out quite visible.
It moved quickly among the stars, apparently.
Will I have a better clear sky tomorrow evening? Fingers crossed.
Through the gap between low clouds but in the presence of high-altitude thin clouds, the comet Leonard is visible but the long tails cannot be seen. Anyway, the image is slightly better than yesterday's.
Venus has become a thin crescent and accelerating steadily to the conjunction with sun. Merely two weeks later it will be visible as the brightest morning star. It will travel back and forth in the Sagittarius constellation for the entire Jan-Feb time.
Thank You to Venus for a year of wonderful evening western skies. Literally followed its move from winter constellations to summer ones.
