Tej Dyal
Comet stealing treasures from Pirate Moon Cluster
It has been a few years since the last time I set out for an astrophotography venture on my own as I spontaneously took advantage of a clear sky night sacrificing attending a quality Flamsteed Astronomy Society lecture that I was booked in for, I had instead jumped on a train from my local Peckham Rye station with my decade old trusty mountaineering backpack, holding my telescope and photography gear; and a tattered wheelie bag carrying my tripod. Destination was Sevenoaks, last stop on the train and just outside the M25 to escape the London light pollution. On the outskirts is a listed park and mansion on a hill called Knole House and here at this location, the skies unveiled much of its cosmic delights, that I never see in London. So sat in my camping chair and enjoyed this luxury, peacefully...for about 15 minutes...as there was imaging work to do before the last train to Peckham leaves!
I made this effort to capture a cosmic moment, I always aim for moments in astro imaging...one of the reasons my gallery is rather small given its 10+ years.
A comet C2022 E3 ZFT was visible with the naked eye for several months but in London, I never got to see this and by now it was not visible to naked eye anymore so I sadly missed that opportunity completely. But it felt good to try being back in groove.
So what we see in this image is a local cluster called Pirate Moon Cluster with the passing by of the Comet eying up some glittery treasure in the pirates cave! But the Pirates kept it at bay and so Comet continued woefully empty handed, aw.
The comet stacking is not perfect, you will notice it is overlapping as it moved quickly through the cluster. The stars are stacked neatly but I just couldn't isolate the comet so I left it as it is with its overlapping "movement" trail.
Location: Knole Park, Sevenoaks
Tech info:
Date of capture: 13th February 2023
exposure: 10 min (40 frames)
ISO 6400: yep noisy but it was about capturing the comet and the passby moment in a short space of time, not about looking beautiful!
Dark frames: 30
Bios frames: 30
No flats
Camera: Canon 650D
Scope: Skywatcher Equinox 80 APO
Mount: Celestron Nexstar 8SE alt-az
capture method: Dell ultrabook 13 tethered to camera using Canon Utilities software.
Post Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Camera Raw, Photoshop
Comet stealing treasures from Pirate Moon Cluster
It has been a few years since the last time I set out for an astrophotography venture on my own as I spontaneously took advantage of a clear sky night sacrificing attending a quality Flamsteed Astronomy Society lecture that I was booked in for, I had instead jumped on a train from my local Peckham Rye station with my decade old trusty mountaineering backpack, holding my telescope and photography gear; and a tattered wheelie bag carrying my tripod. Destination was Sevenoaks, last stop on the train and just outside the M25 to escape the London light pollution. On the outskirts is a listed park and mansion on a hill called Knole House and here at this location, the skies unveiled much of its cosmic delights, that I never see in London. So sat in my camping chair and enjoyed this luxury, peacefully...for about 15 minutes...as there was imaging work to do before the last train to Peckham leaves!
I made this effort to capture a cosmic moment, I always aim for moments in astro imaging...one of the reasons my gallery is rather small given its 10+ years.
A comet C2022 E3 ZFT was visible with the naked eye for several months but in London, I never got to see this and by now it was not visible to naked eye anymore so I sadly missed that opportunity completely. But it felt good to try being back in groove.
So what we see in this image is a local cluster called Pirate Moon Cluster with the passing by of the Comet eying up some glittery treasure in the pirates cave! But the Pirates kept it at bay and so Comet continued woefully empty handed, aw.
The comet stacking is not perfect, you will notice it is overlapping as it moved quickly through the cluster. The stars are stacked neatly but I just couldn't isolate the comet so I left it as it is with its overlapping "movement" trail.
Location: Knole Park, Sevenoaks
Tech info:
Date of capture: 13th February 2023
exposure: 10 min (40 frames)
ISO 6400: yep noisy but it was about capturing the comet and the passby moment in a short space of time, not about looking beautiful!
Dark frames: 30
Bios frames: 30
No flats
Camera: Canon 650D
Scope: Skywatcher Equinox 80 APO
Mount: Celestron Nexstar 8SE alt-az
capture method: Dell ultrabook 13 tethered to camera using Canon Utilities software.
Post Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Camera Raw, Photoshop