Comet 12P / Pons-Brooks

[TimW]

Taken with my Vaonis Vespera.

60x 10sec exposures processed by the scopes internal software.

I've saved off the raw files and plan on seeing if manual post processing produces a better image.

EDIT : There was a weird artifact on the comet's coma that I did not like. This image was from the earlier in the same session.

Pons-Brooks.jpg (246.94 KiB) Viewed 42390 times

[NGC7000]

Hello Tim,

Inspired by your fantastic images posted with the Vespera from locations near and far, I took a chance on the ZWO Seestar, and I have been very pleased with the results. I, too, had the chance to take advantage of our increasingly rare clear evenings, and caught the comet.

In no way do I wish to steal the fire from your post, but it would be silly to start another thread when these little scopes work in such a unique and similar manner. I'm sure members who visit the Board ( all 10 of us ) would be interested in what these little units can do. Were it not for the Seestar, I would have had neither the time nor inclination to set up the usual rig. As Comet 12P was sinking behind the trees just after sunset, I grabbed the Seestar, put it on the deck table, and had it pointing at the otherwise invisible comet in less than 5 minutes. It produced a 5 minute image of 30 second ( it shoots 10, 20, & 30 second exposure times) subs, all processed and delivered as a nice jpeg image on my smartphone. Like the Vespera, I can save RAW files for later processing.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to share my image alongside yours. I think if more members know about these scopes ( and especially Seestar's affordable price tag), there will be more happy imagers in our club!

Tom

CV_Comet 12P PB.jpg (152.68 KiB) Viewed 43897 times

[menardre]

I am glad that somebody was able to image the comet.

I agree that the advent of this new technology really opens up the field of astrophotography. The results are really amazing.

Roger

[TimW]

I love the photography aspect of our hobby but the process of setting up my big scope, aligning it, and breaking it down afterwards was growing tedious. Not to mention the time spent post processing afterwards. Now my setup involves placing the scope on the ground and turning it on. I can then retreat to my recliner and start imaging from the comfort of my house, car or other bug free and warm space.