Comet Panstarrs K1 
in the evening sky- Comet in Ursa Major
May 9, 2014

 
 This
            comet is turning into a splendid object for imaging. Now around
            8th magnitude, it is sliding under the handle of the big dipper
            this week in a field of faint galaxies. The moon was around 70%
            full, however I wanted to test out a new CCD set up with the
            80mm Stellarvue for recording the very faint ion tail, seen here
            extending downward from the coma. Surprisingly, the comet moved
            significantly in the 2 minute sub frames, and this limits the
            maximum exposure for a single frame. Combined here are 10 of
            these for an integrated luminance of 20 minutes, with an added
            6 minutes for color data that I binned 2 x 2 for much more sensitivity
            on the comets nice teal color.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960

            



            
 Here is the Stellarvue SV80s 
astrograph.  I can thread the field flattener
directly into the filter wheel and it gives the
correct spacing to the chip for best coma
correction.  The water cooling tubes can be
seen on the cameras rear.
Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960

            


Lens:  Stellarvue SV80s f/6 - AKA "Zeiss APO" - with Televue .8x FR/CC
Platform:  Astrophysics AP1200 
Exposure:  26m LRGB
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  5/10, Transparency 3/10
Outside Temperature:  45F
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2
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