C/2009 R1 McNaught - June 2010

[Paul]

Got this last night - circa 0200...



Cheers,

Paul.

[martinastro]

Well done Paul, can see the elongation of the coma and hint of tail - very nice!

Got this not so good shot with the kit lens last night...

[markt]

Cool! 

What are the lens details of that last photo Paul?

[Big Dipper]

I deserve to be kicked off the forum for this......................

Last night was pretty clear for the most part & having printed off a map to help locate the comet through my camera, I decided to wait for a bit while it cleared the trees to the NE.

Next thing remember is waking up to an already brightening sky!! Shame on me for wasting a clear night.

Looks promising for tonight at my location so it looks like the cloud gods have given me a second chance.

A couple of nice shots Paul & Martin. Paul I, too, would be interested in the lens & exposure details for your shot.

[brianb]

I deserve to be kicked off the forum for this...

Nah. Buy a kitchen timer & learn to use it. 

[rjgjr]

Great shot Paul, nice detail!

[martinastro]

Shame on you Andy...tut tut, consider yourself warned  - just kidding. Maybe you needed the sleep, best to relax one night and save your energy for the next one. Good luck tonight and clear skies 

[Big Dipper]

Cheers! Not a cloud in the sky at the moment! 

[Tyler]

made my first observation of the comet this morning, was surprised at how dim it was, although easily viewable through binos. May have a pic up in a bit

[Paul]

"What are the lens details of that last photo Paul?"

That's 9 shots stacked in DSS. All were 3.2secs at f3.5 with a Tokina 200mm f3.5 M42 mount lens. 1 shot was ISO1600, the other 8 were ISO800 - I decided the skyglow was so much that 1600 wasn't doing anything for me.

[Big Dipper]

made my first observation of the comet this morning, was surprised at how dim it was,

Got my first viewe of the comet in the small hours of last Thursday and thought exactly the same as you Tyler. However by the time it had cleared most of the tree tops the sky was already quite bright & McNaught was quickly getting drowned out. I wasn't able to detect any colour through my 10X50 bins but the greenish colour was very apparent in the couple of images that I took.

[John9929]

The lack of NLC's this morning (22nd) left me to have a go at R1 McNaught which was close to Capella. It was a very easy target in the 10x50 binos once I found it. The image below was the view from my back door at 00:21UT. A very noticable green with a hint of tail. Capella is the bright star lower right.

This image is a crop from a shot at 01:28UT using the 70-300mm at about 250mm. Notice how the comet has moved relative to those two stars below it. Again a hint of tail can be seen.

This is a cropped and enhanced image in negative to try and tease out some more tail. The image was taken on the 21st at 23:49UT. I took quite a few images some of which are still in camera, however quite a nice observing session with McNaught!

[Big Dipper]

Well captured John. And yes, the negative version certainly helps to emphasise the tail stretching out at one o' clock.

[rjgjr]

Those are great shots John, I agree with Andy that the negative view makes it much easier to see the tail. At my latitude and with my terrain,  I've all but lost the comet.

[martinastro]

David Moore has estimated the comet at Mag +3.4!