Wk04 - Comet C2022/E3 ZTF

As every man and his dog are imaging Comet C2022 E3 ZTF I thought I'd give it a go as well. I didn't want to mess with my small rig as it has been performing well recently with the mono camera and filter wheel (for nebula imaging really). A DSLR/OSC would have been far better for comet catching, however I managed to get just 10 minutes on each of LRGB filters in mono format before the inevitable clouds spoiled the party.

 

Of course the comet does not travel at sidereal velocity so stacking for the comet leaves star trails and stacking for the stars leaves a blurry comet, compounded by the fact I've also got 3 separate colour channels plus luminosity so its taken me all day to figure out how to process this. Considering its just 10 minutes per channel, it didn't turn out too bad.

 

Equipment:

- Redcat 51 (250mm focal length at f/4.9)

- ASI1600MM mono camera

- LRGB filters in EFW filter wheel

- ZWO EAF focuser

- Ioptron GEM28 mount

 

Acquisition:

27 Jan 2023

- 10 x 60s each LRGB

with camera sensor at -15degC

Only 40 minutes in total!

 

Processing:

APP, StarTools and Gimp.

Done