Sunday 31 March 2013

Comet PANSTARRS approaches the Andromeda Galaxy

I popped out to a local hill on the edge of Mousehold Heath within the city of Norwich and took a series of 36 pictures of the comet with M31, the Andromeda galaxy in the frame. Each exposure was 2.5 seconds, and I collected 36 of them. I used the modified Canon 1000D at ISO1600 unguided on a tripod with an old 135mm f/2.8 lens at about f/5. I stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and created a background to subtract manually in Paint Shop Pro. I definitely need more exposure on this one, and tracking. But it clearly shows both objects. It was horrendously cold, so I didn't have the time or the patience to get flat and dark frames. I did spot the comet with 10 x 50 Binoculars in the twilight in the North West and it looked rather impressive, with the tail clearly visible.

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