Hi all

These are my second comet images ever - my first were earlier this year with Comet McNaught.. and it was very hard to take a bad shot of Comet McNaught They were just camera on fixed tripod shots.

These were taken with the 350D through the ED80 + WO 0.8x reducer, tracking (inaccurately) on an EQ6. I rushed these images on the way to work tonight, and set up on the side of the road where I could see a good Western horizon. Consequently, my alignment was shocking and there was terrible trailing and field rotation with only 30s exposures.

But, I was able to salvage a few images. I'd like to try again in the coming days, after aligning properly and perhaps even guiding if I can find a good West view near 240v power!

Image 1: 10x 20s exposures @ ISO800
Image 2: Inverted image of the above, which shows the tail more clearly.
Image 3: 4x 35s exposures @ ISO1600
Image 4: Inverted image of the above, which shows the tail more clearly.

With this FOV, the tail measures about 1.5° long. The 2 bright stars in the top left are Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii. With a shorter focal length, darker skies and longer exposures, I imagine even more tail would've been visible.

Processing was not easy due to the gradients from twilight, as well as the noise from the short and low number of exposures.

But still, i'm fairly happy with it considering it was a last minute decision, knowing I had to work tonight and seeing a clear sky before I left.

Thanks for looking.

Attached Images

	20071110-leonos-iso800-20s-low.jpg (96.8 KB, 23 views)
	20071110-leonos-iso800-20s-inv.jpg (84.5 KB, 16 views)
	20071110-leonos-iso1600-low.jpg (96.0 KB, 20 views)
	20071110-leonos-iso1600-inv1.jpg (97.3 KB, 15 views)

__________________
Mike
. mikesalway.com.au - Astronomy and Photography by Mike Salway
. IceInSpace - The Australian Amateur Astronomy Community
. My Bio | My Jupiter 2007 Gallery | My Image Gallery

You should be very proud of these pictures! Great images of the tail. Thanks for posting.

A very impressive long thin tail a nice keeper there Mike, Welldone and clear skies looking forward to see more of this comet.

Hi Mike.
Yes your last minute decision was right on. I have done the same before going to work, It makes you feel great when you get it right. Clear skies to you . Paul

Well worth the stop. Best photos I've seen of this comet... nothing to apologise about.

Kind regards
Matt