Southern Storm

February 27, 2023

1 minute ago, SnowBear said:

Red alert on my app, aurora likely, possibly visible from anywhere in the UK.

I'm right on the south coast, so it will need to be a decent show for me to get in on the action

I have a couple of spots in mind for a time lapse, and the cloud is starting to melt away fingers crossed

February 27, 2023

Looking at the met office website, 6pm to 7pm looks to be about the best time...

I didn't see yesterdays forecast, so I don't know how they compare strength wise, hope this cloud breaks up

1 minute ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

What time should we look up?

Lol, I was posing at the same time, no way I can type that fast

February 12, 2023

On 11/02/2023 at 03:05, Sprites said:

Heading towards Mars

Clouds spoilt the view tonight 10-2-2023

I'm happy you managed to capture what will likely end up being a once in a lifetime photo.. even if I am a little bit jealous you should be very proud of that one!

I had been hoping that there would be a break in the cloud, but I've been stuck under a unrelenting slate grey sky for the past few days now, I'm praying I'll get a chance to get a picture of the comet near Mars before it's too late

January 29, 2023

35 minutes ago, Jamie M said:

Good DIY work there mate, I'd have fumbled it immediately.

That's version three!

I'm looking forward to giving it a proper test, to see how well it works, before I invest in a more robust one.

Hopefully we will have high pressure in charge soon, E3 will slowly start to dim any day now, it would be a great shame to miss out on the best of it, all because of the weather

Having said that, one of the things I've noticed lately.... it doesn't matter what type of natural phenomenon we're all interested in, on here, Snow, Comets, NLCs, Thunderstorms, You're always on the chase!

Love it

January 29, 2023

Nice to see this thread is ticking along nicely, with lots of great photos of C/2022 E3

Unfortunately we have reached the point that we have all been dreading, and that is the arrival of Atlantic fronts, and a waxing moon ..

I have decided to prepare for the second faze of C/2022 E3 when it becomes a predominantly early evening target.

So today I went all Blue Peter and made a Bahtinov mask, one for my Sigma 150-600.. and one for my Samyang 135, and it appears to work a treat

I've also performed a bit of maintenance on my sky adventurer Pro, as there were a few loose screws which would definitely have been affecting the tracking accuracy.

hopefully we will have some decent weather on the 10th, as the comet will be in close proximity to the Pleiades and Mars, it should make a great wide field shot

January 27, 2023

9 minutes ago, Arnie Pie said:

The position in the sky of the comet was directly over the 'Bull Ring', albeit at an altitude around 50°.

This meant that the camera was facing more to the vertical and over the main dome of LP, this helped a little, although my local surrounding are still at a Bortles of 7

I did try without the LP filter last week but only produced images that where full of noise and beyond my processing knowledge to correct.

From my experience with NLC`s the filter works and I'm impressed with the images of the comet, especially after stacking (maybe I'm just used to seeing noise in my night photos

When I attempt to stack with DSS and access the comet feature, it fails to pick up on the comet when pointed at.

I think this is because of the LP noise caught in my RAW file

I`ve been binge watching YouTube tutorials on the subject, but now my heads beginning to hurt

The easiest stacking software I've found is Sequator 160

Yeah it's such a shame, I lived in Stirchley/selly oak for roughly 3 years and I was shocked at how bad the light pollution was.

Ironically, I actually worked at the bullring, in the Dixon's XL store

I'm going to look into getting a light pollution filter, and a Bahtinov Mask.. something I've known I should pick up for a while now, but not gotten round to.

The weather is clear here, how is it looking up your way?

Just like NLCs, you have to make the most of any opportunities to crop up (especially with a comet) so I'll be setting up soon.

Good luck if you're planning to shoot this evening

January 27, 2023

On 26/01/2023 at 14:33, Arnie Pie said:

I tried opening the taps fully open for this mornings shoot and was presently surprised

20" @ 4.0f - ISO 1600- LP filter fitted WB 5200K- lens @ 95mm

Batch processed with Raw Therapee

60 stacked (Sequator 160)

(all free to use software)

still trying to post process the rest of the images from this morning

edit; Lovely capture Scott

'DSS comet mode' I'm guessing

Thanks, yes it was stacked in comet mode, I was thinking of comet and Stars, but I takes a lot longer, and I'm way too impatient

Lovely shot you took there! Looking forward to seeing the rest

did you have to shoot towards Birmingham? I imagine light pollution is a pain in the backside! And if so, how much does the LP filter help?

I know they were very affective with traditional street lighting, and the wavelength they emit, I'm wondering if the move to LED lighting is going to make it harder to filter out light pollution, as the spectrum of light they produce is much broader.

They turn off the street lamps in my area just after midnight, but I'm still picking light pollution in my shots, it's so annoying

January 26, 2023

So here is my latest effort.. only 40 x 50 second subs, so it didn't take too long to stack

Shot at 600mm, Sigma 150-600mm Canon Eos r

Conditions were almost perfect, with the Comet quite high in the sky, so not a great deal of light pollution to image through

But it's almost impossible not to have at least some Light pollution showing up.

I think I'm reaching the limits of my setup, and any hopes of getting some really detailed images of the trail are probably out of reach.. plus I really need to improve my post processing, as I don't think I'm extracting the maximum out of the data I've gathered, but I'm still relatively new to this game, so lot to learn! Any advice welcome.

January 26, 2023

So many great photos have been posted in the past few days, and hopefully many more to come !

After a few sleepless nights last week, I needed to recharge the batteries... in every sense, so I didn't even try to get out and shoot the comet... plus the weather hasn't really been good enough anyway

I'm up doing a late one this morning though, as the weather is almost perfect, bar a slight breeze, and who knows how many more evenings of good weather we'll get before E3 starts to fade away, so I'm making the most of this evening, even if I do have to be at work in 4 hours

It not every day you get to see a comet as beautiful as this one!

Will post tonight's results later this evening if all goes well

January 25, 2023

19 hours ago, Zak M said:

The comet next to NGC 5907 on Sunday. Looks like it's developed a stunning anti-tail now.

Ignore the bending artefacts, I have absolutely no idea what's caused them.

Excellent capture!

This is one of the strangest Comets I've seen, not very bright, but comes out very nicely if you can avoid light pollution

The artifact that is showing in you images could be from a light source nearby, I've had a few sessions totally ruined but a stray light, it doesn't even need to be that bright

January 20, 2023

9 hours ago, Weather-history said:

That's a really nice closeup!

Are you using a go-to mount? And have you thought of stacking you images?

I would imagine you'd end up with a seriously detailed image of the nucleus

Nice

January 20, 2023

17 hours ago, Zak M said:

Slowly getting brighter. This was a stack of around 200 images with four-second exposures

Nice shot!

The tail is not that easy to capture with this comet considering it's proximity, but you captured it, and was it untracked?

This is from this morning's session, but managed to to get more exposure time on this occasion

We're definitely entering prime time for e3, we just need the weather to ay ball

January 19, 2023

37 minutes ago, Sprites said:

@Southern Storm

That's a good capture

I had binoculars on my tripod earlier, those two stars in the bottom right of your photo I remember seeing those, and the comet was a light patch slightly elongated. I took a few more shots about 4.30am , seems like a cloudy week coming up.

Thanks buddy

Yeah, I think we have a couple of decent days of weather left, but I'm sure we'll have other opportunities

We still have just over a week until it's at the closest distance from earth, and will likely get a little brighter, however it's not expected to be as bright as originally thought, going by some recent observations/calculations that have been made.

January 19, 2023

Started earlier this morning, nice and clear.. however, I've been wondering why many of my exposures looked as if high cloud was ruining my images

It turns out it's condensation from the flue for our central heating, which just happens to be blowing in the direction where I'm taking photos it's probably a combination of both!

I did get a about 27 cleanish photos, out of about 50 in total

Stacked in DSS comet and stars blend mode

Eos r... Sigma 150-500.. @500mm (cropped to fit) 60 seconds @f7.1 6400iso .. mouted on the Sky-watcher star adventurer 2i

I'm tempted to give it another shot tomorrow, but lack of sleep, and having to get up for work is starting to catch up, so we'll see

January 19, 2023

3 hours ago, Sprites said:

Tail showing nicely

What ISO was it ? Samyang or Rokinon lens?

It was taken with the 135mm samyang f2, and eos r @ iso 1600

It was a bit optimistic to expect too much with that combo, and it was just too small at that focal length, so I'm shooting @500 as we speak ( sigma 150-600c )

Are you thinking of giving it a go this evening? Almost perfect conditions, if you can get away for any light pollution.

This is 1 60 second exposure 500mm @500mm, looking forward to stacking

January 18, 2023

Very quick edit, but this is from this morning (heavily cropped)

135mm @f2 60 seconds

January 17, 2023

1 hour ago, Andy Bown said:

Which direction were you looking please? So I can try to see it and show my son in the next few mornings! Thank you.

Hi Andy

The Image I posted was taken while looking east, roughly 45 degrees above the horizon, about around 4am

I managed to locate it using two stars in Ursa major.. see picture

It's definitely worth the effort, but I would set you expectations quite low, as there has been quiet a few sensationalist stories going on in the press, that raise peoples expectations beyond what will likely happen!

You will definitely need some kind of optical aid to be able to see this comet, as it's going to be barely visible to the naked eye, if at all

Hope that helps

January 17, 2023

Taken this morning

Started off very clear, but I had issues trying to polar align and wasted a lot of time, so only ended up with a few decent images so image is quite noisy

It's definitely brightening up nicely though, which bodes well for the coming days

January 16, 2023

23 hours ago, Zak M said:

Also had another attempt at it. Think there might be a slight tail in there but hard to tell

23 hours ago, Jamie M said:

Captured it tonight finally, some of the single exposures had the tail in them but trying to process them has managed to lose it.

I'll attached the stacked one and the single exposures.

The faint little splodge near the satellite, was the thing that made me realise it was the comet as it definitely wasn't like any star!

A bit more of tail on this one. This was at 300 mm with a 6 sec exposure at iso 3200 at f6.3

Final processed stack from DeepSkyStacker with 29 1 minute subs at iso 6400 f/6.3 at 300 mm. Didn't bother with the star tracker due to how low in the NW it was but will do soon.

1 hour ago, Sprites said:

A stack of 30 shots from early January, the moon was at 90 %

Great shots guys! You're certainly more dedicated than me, as I could have made the effort two nights ago but decided against it, plus it was still quite breezy.

The weather is looking pretty decent for the next few nights though, and we are finally done with the moon spoiling things

Going by the latest forecast, it will probably be tomorrow that I'll get out with the camera, as I'm expecting cloud to roll in soon

Wishing you all clear skies

January 15, 2023

1 hour ago, Sprites said:

Had a look this morning at 4am, just before it clouded up.

Quite easy to find with a short exposure it's below the handle of the plough ATM

I was able to see it with 10x50 bins.

10 seconds at 300m ISO 6400 using Pentax astrotracer.

Nice capture!

hoping to get out in the next few days if the weather plays ball

December 29, 2022

38 minutes ago, Sprites said:

I managed to find it early AM today, a basic guide is find Arcturus in the east at 3am, look left to the next brightest star, then left and slightly down to the next bright star. I did cheat a bit with Mobile Stellarium.

It was mostly clear but quite hazy, came out with a 4 second exposure at 90mm. Haven't had chance to check my pics as yet.

@Zak and Southern Storm

Did you use Stellarium to find it?

Comet of the month: C/2022 E3 (ZTF) – British Astronomical Association

BRITASTRO.ORG

I do use Stellerium, and I find that this site is also quite useful

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) | TheSkyLive.com

THESKYLIVE.COM

Discover all the most important facts and information about Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) updated in real time

With the weather being poor and a waxing moon, I don't think there will be many decent chances for a while, but if there's a break in the weather I'll definitely be getting up for an early morning photo op

December 28, 2022

On 27/12/2022 at 19:58, Zak M said:

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a comet that was discovered in March this year and is currently lurking near the constellation of Corona Borealis. It is expected to brighten over the next few weeks and is likely to be visible by the naked eye in areas away from light pollution.

Here's a shot I managed of the comet a few days ago at around 3am, looking NE as it was rising above the horizon. This was taken with 400 two-second exposures and stacked using DeepSkyStacker.

Nice capture Zak, I guess your image is unguided? Do you mind me asking what camera and lens you used?

This is my effort for now..

I got set up, polar aligned my star adventurer, and by the time I'm was ready, it started to cloud over

You can't beat the British climate!

I Shot mine on the Canon 750D (crop body) 150-600mm Sigma probably around 470mm (750 equivalent) with an of aperture 7.1

This is 1 x 30 second exposure of about 4 that I managed to capture, so didn't bother stacking them in the end

Fingers crossed for some decent weather before the moon becomes too full to get decent pictures.

December 17, 2022

11 minutes ago, That ECM said:

Any Shetland members got a spare room?

8 degrees, southerly and felt warm, got told off for telling people to do one when they said how nice it was.

Is that Stanpit? If so, I was down there this morning, and all the ice was starting to melt

The milder air mass has definitely arrived down our way, and we could be waiting a while before it cools off again, when looking at the current output

Still early in the season though, with northern hemisphere snow and ice doing nicely!

December 11, 2022

Well.. I never thought I'd still be checking the radar for storms this late in the year.. but I guess that sums up 2022

It's been absolutely brilliant in this thread throughout these past few months

So many amazing contributions from us seasoned storm fans, and new members alike

Hopefully this is the year, which we will look back on in years to come, as the beginning of an uptick in storm activity... We will see!

It's been a fruitful year when it come to getting some decent captures, and I've finally managed to spend some time and edit all my footage into one Video

Happy 2022 to everyone, and hopefully we'll have a very happy 2023

Southern Storm

December 10, 2022

12 minutes ago, Mapantz said:

I've picked up some lightning from out in the channel.

That sounds about right.

Looking at the current radar there are some lively showers out in the channel...

I was out this morning taking photographs and with some lovely towers out to sea

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