103P/Hartley - Naked Eye Comet In October

[Conor McDonald]

Nice shots folks... heres one from last night. Really need a new tri-pod as you can see the camera shake

[brianb]

Here's my effort from last night:


2010 Sep 30, around 0240 UT. It's a crop of the centre of the frame. Canon 40D, 50mm, 30 x 10 sec @ f/1.4, stacked in Deep Sky Stacker.

The distinctive green colour of the comet is obvious in the image but it's hardly a conspicuous object ... the moon didn't help, but it was a just about suspected fuzzy blob in 9x50 finder and not much better with 80mm x24.

Really need a new tri-pod as you can see the camera shake

I had that issue once. Turned out the concrete slabs of the patio the tripod was standing on were moving very slightly when I walked around.

[DaveH64]

Nice one Brian, still good to see.

[markt]

More excellent shots Chaps - keep em' coming

[martinastro]

The images keep getting better and better, nice images John, Conor and Brian. Conor that came out extremely well at 300mm, Hartley is very easy to see with the green colour - great.

Brian, nicely done getting the comet to come up so well even in moonlight, I see it has moved further from 14 Cass making it a more obvious sight, well done on the vivid colour capture too. Not an easy comet to capture by any means. Lets' hope it gets a little better soon.

[martinastro]

Hartley now being reported with a 20' coma via Spaceweather. Clear skies are forecast tonight 

[rjgjr]

Here is my first attempt at catching Hartley in this heavily cropped image. 50 mm 13 sec f/2.2 1600 ISO. Not the best conditions as it wasn't completely dark and the fog was ready to move in, so I gave it a go. Binoculars are no better. The coming weeks should prove much better. Good luck to everyone!!

[JohnC]

Impressive photos. How on earth (no pun intended,Richard lol) but how on earth can you identify that faint  Hartley comet , there's an arrow (a pointer) you've put but even then I had to look hard.

[rjgjr]

Let's say I'm  pretty sure that's Hartley. I was using Heavens Above and their sky map for the position and it was suppose to be right there, it does look a little different than the surrounding star field. I almost didn't post it but you get what you image. With better conditions I hope to do better next time.

[brianb]

it does look a little different than the surrounding star field.

It has the characteristic cometary green tinge that appears in colour photos, but is not obvious to the eye. Definitely the comet.

[DaveH64]

Nice capture Richard. Green haze gives it away. Hoping to have a go myself tonight.

[martinastro]

Well done Richard, you got the sneaky comet despite wrestling with foggy sky conditions. Look forward to seeing more 

Got a few shots this evening under pristine skies at various exposures...

[John9929]

Well done Richard! Here's some from tonight.

50mm f2.5 25"

70mm f5.6 30"

135mm f3.5 30"

[DaveH64]

More good captures guys. Caught it myself tonight but have been unable to upload them. Showing upload file full, when using url telling me i've already posted them all with size limits.

[martinastro]

Have you tried www.tinypic.com Dave?, use the IMG URL and the image should upload fine. Hope you get the images posted