Catalina and Polaris

Astrophotography: share your photos & discuss techniques
User avatar
Apollo XX
MSSF Coordinator
Posts: 2785
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:11 pm

Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Fighting planes, clouds and just general mayhem in the sky, I finally got a picture of comet Catalina 2013 US10 before it recedes into interstellar space. Catalina maxed out at around magnitude 6 back at the beginning of January, but since the 17th it has been pulling away from earth and is now dimming at a rate of nearly 1/10 of a magnitude per day. Shining in the vicinity of magnitude 8 tonight, I was able to capture Catalina as it was passing by everybody's favorite alignment star, Polaris.

Catalina and Polaris in the same frame; Polaris is on the left side of the image, to the upper right of the tree branch. Catalina is on the same level as Polaris, but close to the right hand side of the frame.

Image

Image details; Nikon D5000, Nikon 55-200 lens @ 70mm, F4.2, ISO800, 8 Frames @45 seconds, tracking via hand-driven hinge tracker, stacked in DSS, processed in GIMP.

The latest on C/2013 US10; http://theskylive.com/c2013us10-info
Last edited by Apollo XX on Mon Feb 01, 2016 5:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
User avatar
AndyG
Network Admin
Posts: 1160
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:18 pm

Re: Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by AndyG »

Great image Mike! way to go, congrats.

hand-driven hinge tracker ... wow ... and perfect tracking results too. amazing
Andy
Bruce D
Life Member
Posts: 5624
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 6:10 am

Re: Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by Bruce D »

Very nice shot Mike!
Bruce D
User avatar
DonB
Posts: 469
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:16 pm

Re: Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by DonB »

Yes, great shot. I was able to find the comet, but wasn't able to image it. Nice going. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Don
"When I was 18, my father was the dumbest man I ever knew.
When I was 21, I could not believe how much he had learned in 3 years."
--- Mark Twain

Orion 120mm F/5 Refractor
Celestron 8
Explore Scientific 80 Triplet
Explore Scientific 102 Triplet
Orion 8" Astrograph
User avatar
rjbokleman
Posts: 517
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 11:09 pm

Re: Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by rjbokleman »

Mike,

I see it! I see it! :lol:

Nicely done! Getting a comet is one of the toughest astrophotography feats I can think of.
Ron B.
T5i/700D, ASI1600MM-C, ASI120MM, ASI174MM, XAGYL 7x36mm FW
Astronomik Deep-Sky(RGB), CLS, Ha, OIII, SII
SV60EDS 60mm f/5.5 APO
AT65EDQ 65mm f/6.5 ED Quadruplet
SW ProED 100mm f/9.0 Doublet APO
C8 EdgeHD, AT130EDT
AVX, iEQ45 Pro

http://www.astrobin.com/users/rjbokleman/
User avatar
Apollo XX
MSSF Coordinator
Posts: 2785
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:11 pm

Re: Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Thanks for the kind words, guys!
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
User avatar
WCGucfa
Posts: 1856
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:39 pm

Re: Catalina and Polaris

Unread post by WCGucfa »

Good going, Mike!!
The beautiful color of Catalina really stands out!

Bill G.
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
Post Reply