vkastronomy.com - Astrophotography Weblog
Comet C/2004 M4 (SWAN)
16:45 29/10/2006 UTC
< Previous Next >At last I got an opportunity to image this current comet. My backyard has pretty obstructed view to west and north. Only decent spot where I could view the comet had obstructions towards north star. I managed to make a so-so polar alignment and sky eventually cleared so I got my exposures rolling. Bad polar alignment limited my exposures to 30 seconds and transparency was lousy. As if there weren't enough challenges I managed to screw up my flats, so post processing was really a struggle. Visually the comet was brighter than M13. The comet was easy with binoculars, altough the tail was not visible in these conditions.
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Camera: Modified Canon EOS 350D (Rebel XT) | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Orion Skyview Pro, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader IR/UV block | Guiding: Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, QCGuider, Teleskop-Service 1.5x Barlow, Phillips ToUCam Pro II webcam | Exposure: 24x30s (12m) ISO800 f6, 7 darks, 10 flats, bias | Software: IRIS, GIMP | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI) | Moon illumination 47% | Kuun korkeus +5° |
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Added: 22:56 30/10/2006 UTC
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