Jan 12
by astrographist in Comets 0 comments

C/2006 P1 McNaught

Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught aka The Great Comet of 2007. The sky was still bathed in sunset colours when I took the photo. Comet McNaught was one of the brightest comets ever recorded, reaching a magnitude of -5.5. Venus is around -4, so the comet was brighter. I’ve even managed to see comet McNaught at noon, during full daytime. The comet actually put an amazing show in the Southern hemisphere. I was faced with a tough decision at the time. I was at the beginning of my career as a photographer and I had to choose between buying studio gear or going to the Southern Hemisphere to see and photograph the comet. I bought the gear. Date and place: January 11 2007; Cornetu, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 300D Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 66 Exposure: 9 x 0.6s Aperture: 5.9 ISO: 400
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Jan 12
by astrographist in Comets 0 comments

Comet C/2011 L4 Panstarrs

This is comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS. It was a pretty nice naked eye comet in March 2013, but I was not lucky with the weather back then. I only managed to shoot it in May 2013, when it developed a very interesting fan-shaped tail. The bright star in the image is Gamma Cephei, aka Errai. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, Gamma Cephei will be our next bright northern pole star, in a couple thousand years. As you can see in the image there’s quite some dust in the area. Take a look at the second image (use the arrows under the photo) to identify some other objects in the image. We have one small galaxy, called IC 1502, pretty close to the comet, while the dark nebula TGU H772 P1 is further to the right. Date and place: May 12 2013; Plaiul Lisei, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 60Da Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L at 200mm Exposure: 33 x 90s Aperture: 3.2 ISO: 3200 Tracker: Fornax Mounts Fornax 10
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Jul 19
by astrographist in Comets 0 comments

Comet Machholz by the Pleiades

Comet Machholz passing by the Pleiades. This is probably my last guided film astrophoto. I still remember that very cold night. Due to freezing conditions I wasn’t able to properly guide a longer or similar exposure of the comet. Date and place: January 8 2005; Pauleasca, Romania Camera: Olympus OM-1 Lens: Pentacon 200/4 Exposure: 360 s Aperture: 4 Film: Konica VX400, ISO 400
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Jul 19
by astrographist in Comets 0 comments

Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

Comet Lulin is a non-periodic comet. It peaked in brightness and arrived at perigee for observers on Earth on February 24, 2009, at magnitude +5. Lulin’s green colour comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet’s nucleus contain cyanogen (CN; a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space. Date and place: February 28 2009; Pauleasca, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 30D Telescope: BORG 77ED Exposure: 24 x 60 s Aperture: 6.5 ISO: 800
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