Comet 46P/Wirtanen over Sydney
Taken by Marco Nero on December 17, 2018 @
Bilpin, New South Wales, Australia
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Camera Used: Canon Canon EOS 6D
Exposure Time: 5/1
Aperture: f/2.0
ISO: 6400
Date Taken: 2018:12:18 00:54:05
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Details:
The half-Moon was a problem, just as I suspected it would be. Had to wait until 2am for the moon to set and then shot with three cameras for an hour to attempt image-stacking later.
Bright green Comet 46P/Wirtanen this morning at 2am riding alongside the bright blue Pleiades Constellation in Taurus. I had to wait until 2am because the moon was still in the night sky and washed out my test images. So I spent a couple of hours in the moonlight taking experimental shots of equipment and preparing camera focus - waiting for the moon to set. I had to make a small adjustment during editing because the comet had moved slightly (which I didn't expect). The sky here in the lower Blue Mountains was very clear as soon as the moon set.
Comet Wirtanen was just barely visible to my eyes (it was VERY faint) and the cameras had no problem seeing the green hue of the comet's coma in each shot (again). I saw no sign of a tail in any of the shots I took.
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[Details]:
* Canon EOS 6D DSLR.
* Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM lens.
* 5 & 4 second exposures (x80) @ f/2 | ISO 6400.
* Manually aligned & stacked - edited in LR4 and then PS.
* 80 images edited in 4 sets (my poor computer couldn't handle them all at once). I haven't attempted astro stacking before so this was an interesting exercise.
Location: Bilpin - about an hour's drive from the mid-West Sydney suburbs.
Can't wait to get an EQ mount with tracking... it would make the available apertures more flexible and stacking would be more easily managed. I had to shoot wide open. Was happy to get a number of shots of the comet. Perhaps we'll see another, brighter comet in the near future.
Bye 46P/Wirtanen !
Photographer's website:
http://https://www.instagram.com/nero.marco
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