Eclipse… and a comet? - Forums

Topic starter

Mar 14, 2024

So it looks like it may be possible to image the total eclipse AND comet 12P…

In the same frame! (During totality)

Now, since I’ve never taken a pic of either one, and there is no time for me to mess around to figure out exposures, I’d like to hear some opinions on what I should do.

I think the best setup I have that would fit the FOV (I’m NOT buying a new lens or camera for this lol) is:

sony a7rii
sony 24-105 f/4

basically, I’m wondering what kind of exposure time I should start with. Do you think it would be fractions of a second, or multiple seconds? I imagine I could get by without tracking right?

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Sean Mc

Topic starter

Mar 14, 2024

Actually… If I control the camera with the asiair, I can set up a plan where I take say 30 shots @ 1/2000sec, 30 @1/1000 30 @ 1/500… 20 @ 2 seconds.

but then I lose access to the asiair for my telescope

does anyone know of an alternate way to control a sony camera and set up a shot plan like that?

Sean Mc

Topic starter

Mar 29, 2024

It looks like it’s possible to frame the sun, the pleiades, jupiter, the comet, andromeda (!) and mercury in the same shot.

full frame camera, 24mm lens.

anyone want to guess on whether it’s possible to get andromeda to show up in the stacked photo?

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Sean Mc

Topic starter

Mar 29, 2024

Actually, nevermind. Everything in the frame would bee too small

Oscar

Mar 29, 2024

Sean Mc:
It looks like it’s possible to frame the sun, the pleiades, jupiter, the comet, andromeda (!) and mercury in the same shot.

And also add stars in the background (check what constellation the moon will move to, during the eclipse, then at night, or dusk, try take a stars image of that area), remove any of Earth's atmosphere visible in the image (the blue haze), and also try to capture Earthshine during totality, and make an image with all that.

It would look otherworldly. Like an HDR moon photo, but with sun rays coming out from behind the moon, and the DSOs visible around.

Doug Gray

Apr 12, 2024

I'm curious if anyone was able to successfully get this shot. I saw a comment from Andrew McCarthy on twitter that he tried and the comet did not show up. When I search on astrobin, this beautiful 2020 eclipse photo is the only thing that shows up. I tried myself, but was too busy with other cameras (and watching my two kids running around) and I ended up with a bunch of out of focus 25mm shots.

Hopefully someone captured it but is still working on processing. It would indeed be an otherworldly shot!

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Alexandr Zaytsev

Apr 12, 2024

Sky was relatively bright during this totality at least for the Southern part of the path which was also under high RH conditions, so even getting Mercury (+4.3m) ended up being a challenge. Perhaps the Northern part of the path had better luck?

Sean Mc

Topic starter

Apr 14, 2024

High clouds where I was. Venus was bright but I don’t even remember seeing jupiter let alone the comet.