Comet Jacques  C/2014 E2
Flies over IC1396
August 30th, 2014

 

            
 A big night
            for comet Jacques, superimposed on the faint red nebula IC1396
            in Cepheus. The brilliant orange star Mu Cephi is just over the
            comets shoulder here too.

            
Transparency suffered
            tonight from incoming high clouds, however during the exposure
            it was not too bad.

            
Three versions
            of the one hours worth of 5 minute subs are shown here combined
            differently as explained below.



            
Standard star aligned shot, with the other
11 comet layers median combined on
top using lighten in PS.  The result is a still
comet on a starry background. The tail is
hard to see in front of the large red
nebula!

Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960
            



            
Comet aligned in a normal tracked Comet
image.  The stars are trailed by the amount
the comet moved in one hour.  the comet is
still and shows the two tails here.

Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960
            



            
Median combined shot dims and trails
the stars to show the comets full tail
extent.  A thin gas tail points downward
here, and the dust fan to the left.

Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960
            



Lens:  Canon 100mm L lens - Canon Xti was used at ASA800
Platform:  Astrophysics AP1200 
Exposure:  60mins
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  8/10, Transparency 6/10
Outside Temperature:  58F
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2
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