Astrophotography

[Rivendale]

https://imgur.com/a/7DNqemh

In lieu of the Cody temple here is a view that I took of comet Atlas the people of the community won't see in its glory.

[Physics Guy]

Wow!

You must have a good mount.

I once taught an intro astrophysics course, but I was learning almost as much as the students, and it was only an intro. It’s not my field.

Do you know why the comet seems to have an inner and an outer tail?

How big is this thing? How far away is it?

[Everybody Wang Chung]

https://imgur.com/a/7DNqemh

In lieu of the Cody temple here is a view that I took of comet Atlas the people of the community won't see in its glory.

That is an amazing photo!

[Rivendale]

https://imgur.com/a/7DNqemh

In lieu of the Cody temple here is a view that I took of comet Atlas the people of the community won't see in its glory.

That is an amazing photo!

Thanks. Lifelong love of the night skies.

[Rivendale]

Wow!

You must have a good mount.

I once taught an intro astrophysics course, but I was learning almost as much as the students, and it was only an intro. It’s not my field.

Do you know why the comet seems to have an inner and an outer tail?

How big is this thing? How far away is it?

I have a Skywatcher Eq6r. But my scope was bought in 1981. An 8"f6 Newtonian. Optics back then were superior. Comet tails vary from comet to comet dependent on orbit and elements present. The current comet now C/2025 R3 Panstarrs has a bizarre tail. I shot it this week. Here is a shot. Notice the twisted multiple tails. https://imgur.com/a/xWiMZGA

Edit. Atlas is long gone. Panstarrs just left perihelion. Panstarrs has a tail length covering 2 degrees. That is about 6 full moon lengths.

[Gadianton]

That's a nice shot.

[¥akaSteelhead]

Very nice.

[yellowstone123]

Wow!

You must have a good mount.

I once taught an intro astrophysics course, but I was learning almost as much as the students, and it was only an intro. It’s not my field.

Do you know why the comet seems to have an inner and an outer tail?

How big is this thing? How far away is it?

I have a Skywatcher Eq6r. But my scope was bought in 1981. An 8"f6 Newtonian. Optics back then were superior. Comet tails vary from comet to comet dependent on orbit and elements present. The current comet now C/2025 R3 Panstarrs has a bizarre tail. I shot it this week. Here is a shot. Notice the twisted multiple tails. https://imgur.com/a/xWiMZGA

Edit. Atlas is long gone. Panstarrs just left perihelion. Panstarrs has a tail length covering 2 degrees. That is about 6 full moon lengths.

Yes, very cool Rivendale, thank you.

I love these types of images. I love to read about astronomy and ask simple questions or read simple articles about it in an explain-it-like-I’m-5 way. I have always wanted to dive into a little astrophotography. I recently bought a Canon R100 because you can keep the aperture open. I paid that off and I’m looking at the iOptron SkyGuider Pro EQ Camera Mount. I get all my stuff through B&H Photo in New York City which has a lot of gear at great prices. I believe this is the gear that I need to keep the stars from streaking.

I love our local deserts in Southern Cal and can ride a small dirt bike with a backpack and a sleeping bag into the horizon at night learn the craft slowly. One thing I just learned about was burst shots, 10 to 30 seconds each time as it might pick up other points of light as the Earth rotates. I found out my little Olympus T-6 has this design and I think I can piggyback it on the gear drive. I follow Trevor Dobson on Flickr as he seems to do these burst shots when filming the Milky Way in Australia and he uses a DeepSkyStacker program to align all the images. I’m wondering how burst shots would do with the comet.

[Rivendale]

I have a Skywatcher Eq6r. But my scope was bought in 1981. An 8"f6 Newtonian. Optics back then were superior. Comet tails vary from comet to comet dependent on orbit and elements present. The current comet now C/2025 R3 Panstarrs has a bizarre tail. I shot it this week. Here is a shot. Notice the twisted multiple tails. https://imgur.com/a/xWiMZGA

Edit. Atlas is long gone. Panstarrs just left perihelion. Panstarrs has a tail length covering 2 degrees. That is about 6 full moon lengths.

Yes, very cool Rivendale, thank you.

I love these types of images. I love to read about astronomy and ask simple questions or read simple articles about it in an explain-it-like-I’m-5 way. I have always wanted to dive into a little astrophotography. I recently bought a Canon R100 because you can keep the aperture open. I paid that off and I’m looking at the iOptron SkyGuider Pro EQ Camera Mount. I get all my stuff through B&H Photo in New York City which has a lot of gear at great prices. I believe this is the gear that I need to keep the stars from streaking.

I love our local deserts in Southern Cal and can ride a small dirt bike with a backpack and a sleeping bag into the horizon at night learn the craft slowly. One thing I just learned about was burst shots, 10 to 30 seconds each time as it might pick up other points of light as the Earth rotates. I found out my little Olympus T-6 has this design and I think I can piggyback it on the gear drive. I follow Trevor Dobson on Flickr as he seems to do these burst shots when filming the Milky Way in Australia and he uses a DeepSkyStacker program to align all the images. I’m wondering how burst shots would do with the comet.

Glad you liked it. I started taking astrophotos when I was a teenager in the 1980s. I use to do piggyback shots with my old Mamiya 55mm camera. It was on top of my scope which was guided by a clock drive that could track but not very good. Then my career hit and I stopped until I retired. The technology has completely revolutionized astrophotography and it took two years to learn how to do it. It is also pricey. My setup cost almost 10,000 bucks and that is a low budget range. Cell phone apps can stack multiple images quiet effectively. Comets don't require long exposures but they take some time processing because the comet is moving different relative to the stars. Galaxies and comets are my favorite and I have photos of over 200 Galaxies and probably 20 to 30 comets.

[yellowstone123]

Yes, very cool Rivendale, thank you.

I love these types of images. I love to read about astronomy and ask simple questions or read simple articles about it in an explain-it-like-I’m-5 way. I have always wanted to dive into a little astrophotography. I recently bought a Canon R100 because you can keep the aperture open. I paid that off and I’m looking at the iOptron SkyGuider Pro EQ Camera Mount. I get all my stuff through B&H Photo in New York City which has a lot of gear at great prices. I believe this is the gear that I need to keep the stars from streaking.

I love our local deserts in Southern Cal and can ride a small dirt bike with a backpack and a sleeping bag into the horizon at night learn the craft slowly. One thing I just learned about was burst shots, 10 to 30 seconds each time as it might pick up other points of light as the Earth rotates. I found out my little Olympus T-6 has this design and I think I can piggyback it on the gear drive. I follow Trevor Dobson on Flickr as he seems to do these burst shots when filming the Milky Way in Australia and he uses a DeepSkyStacker program to align all the images. I’m wondering how burst shots would do with the comet.

Glad you liked it. I started taking astrophotos when I was a teenager in the 1980s. I use to do piggyback shots with my old Mamiya 55mm camera. It was on top of my scope which was guided by a clock drive that could track but not very good. Then my career hit and I stopped until I retired. The technology has completely revolutionized astrophotography and it took two years to learn how to do it. It is also pricey. My setup cost almost 10,000 bucks and that is a low budget range. Cell phone apps can stack multiple images quiet effectively. Comets don't require long exposures but they take some time processing because the comet is moving different relative to the stars. Galaxies and comets are my favorite and I have photos of over 200 Galaxies and probably 20 to 30 comets.

I think the comets and galaxies would be cool to see if you have a chance to post them in the future. And if you have shots of Andromeda or Hale-Bopp, I’d love to see them.I remember Hale-Bopp in the mid-90s—you could just barely see it with the naked eye around sunset, even in the city.

Today, I love using the Sky Guide app on my iPhone or iPad. It’s so neat—just open the app, point your phone at the sky, and you can see the stars, the zodiac constellations, and a host of other things. It even beeps when the International Space Station flies overhead. It’s $50 a year but free for one week, so it’s a great way to quickly check what you’re looking for.It’s especially nice to open the app early in the morning while it’s still dark. You can point it at the eastern horizon and see the Sun, along with Mercury, Venus, and sometimes the Moon—all lined up before sunrise. They follow roughly the same path, moving from about the 9 o’clock to the 1 o’clock position on a clock face. At night they descend from around 11 to 3. I’m in Los Angeles, so they slide more slowly over the ocean compared to the equator.

For me, it’s kind of interesting that during the daytime we really don’t see what’s actually there because of the sunlight. When I’m riding my old motorcycle south of Interstate 5 in the early morning, the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, and stars a thousand times the size of our Sun are all out there on the horizon—even if I can’t see them with my eyes. It’s nice to check the app while riding and actually visualize what’s in the sky. Visualizng the Milky Way right in front of you on the horizon when riding is pretty special.