In case you’ve visited my site and wondered where I’ve been, the day after I posted the picture of the comet I was in a car accident that among other things, broke my leg.
I was taking most of my family back to the soccer fields to see the comet when someone t-boned us at full speed. That totaled both cars and sent my daughter and me to the ER. I got a fractured fibula out of it and will wear a walking boot into January.
That said, I might try some light duty photography tomorrow.
Here’s my latest image of Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, taken Monday evening around 7:30 PM from the soccer fields on Highway 300, Little Rock. This comet is incredible, even under the waxing gibbous Moon and lingering twilight it stretched from the crook of my thumb to the end of my index finger at arm’s length. Go see it.
This image was made from 78 one second shots at ISO 3200, f/6.3 and 189mm focal length. Stacked and processed.
Here is my first image with my new ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405) in Auriga. I used my Samyang 135mm f/2 prime lens on my Celestron AVX mount. That ought to be enough name dropping to get me a corporate sponsor.
IC 405 is an Hydrogen Alpha emission nebula, glowing by its own heat.
It was really windy last night at the River Ridge Observatory but the AVX handled it well. This is 3 hours and 20 minutes of five minute subs stacked together. I had to wait until 2:30 for the Moon to go down so it was nearly 6 AM when it was done. Now to sell some stuff to help pay for it.
