Hi to the community,
lately I tried for the first time to get some images of a comet with a guided sope. Although I was kind of successful, there are some questions that arised. There are a lot of processing tips out there, but the process of data aquisition is less clear to me.
First, I want to start with the camera. I am used to put my mono cameras on the scopes for deep sky imaging. But with a mono camera, I have to record the color channels seperately one after the other. I guess, this may be problematic, because of the fast movement of the comets. Stacking for the background seems to be difficult this way. Are YOU using OSC camras for your comet images, or are mono cameras usable as well? I own a Explore scientific 16MP ATR3CMOS16000KPA camera with the older Panasonic sensor as OSC-Version. This may be an option for me, although I don't really like imaging with this camera. There is also a QHY 183c Pro, but its small sensor may be suboptimal for the needed wider field of view.
I realized, that the scopes used to image comets are usually shorter focal length scopes. The size of the tail surely is the reason for that. Is this observation correct? How do you choose your scope? I find it hard to guess the tails length eapecially if the comet is still far away from the sun. Are there any techniques to prepare for this? And related to this topic: how do you find the optimal exposure time to get a sharp comet?
I usually record subs over multiple nights for my deep sky images. Because of the moving background (relative to the comet), this may not be a useful option here? When I tried my first comet, I centered the comet in the frame, because I had only a vague idea of where it may move to. I used Stellarium and SkyChart to find the tails direction for framing. But of course, the comet drifted out of the frame during the session, because I guided for the stars as suggested by other users. How do you deal with this? are you repositioning the comet to the center of the frame occasionally? I use NINA. How may I be able to do this? How long is your total integration time?
Maybe, there are some other things I missed. I would apreciate any advice, that helps to get started. My goal is, to use one of my three (kind of) permanent setups to hunt some comets in the future. This is getting more and more interesting to me. So maybe your answers may help to save some time and got on track a bit faster.
Thanks in advance
CS
Christian
lately I tried for the first time to get some images of a comet with a guided sope. Although I was kind of successful, there are some questions that arised. There are a lot of processing tips out there, but the process of data aquisition is less clear to me.
First, I want to start with the camera. I am used to put my mono cameras on the scopes for deep sky imaging. But with a mono camera, I have to record the color channels seperately one after the other. I guess, this may be problematic, because of the fast movement of the comets. Stacking for the background seems to be difficult this way. Are YOU using OSC camras for your comet images, or are mono cameras usable as well? I own a Explore scientific 16MP ATR3CMOS16000KPA camera with the older Panasonic sensor as OSC-Version. This may be an option for me, although I don't really like imaging with this camera. There is also a QHY 183c Pro, but its small sensor may be suboptimal for the needed wider field of view.
I realized, that the scopes used to image comets are usually shorter focal length scopes. The size of the tail surely is the reason for that. Is this observation correct? How do you choose your scope? I find it hard to guess the tails length eapecially if the comet is still far away from the sun. Are there any techniques to prepare for this? And related to this topic: how do you find the optimal exposure time to get a sharp comet?
I usually record subs over multiple nights for my deep sky images. Because of the moving background (relative to the comet), this may not be a useful option here? When I tried my first comet, I centered the comet in the frame, because I had only a vague idea of where it may move to. I used Stellarium and SkyChart to find the tails direction for framing. But of course, the comet drifted out of the frame during the session, because I guided for the stars as suggested by other users. How do you deal with this? are you repositioning the comet to the center of the frame occasionally? I use NINA. How may I be able to do this? How long is your total integration time?
Maybe, there are some other things I missed. I would apreciate any advice, that helps to get started. My goal is, to use one of my three (kind of) permanent setups to hunt some comets in the future. This is getting more and more interesting to me. So maybe your answers may help to save some time and got on track a bit faster.
Thanks in advance
CS
Christian
