Comet Pan-STARRS

[mattb]

I'm single dad this week so I brought my 10 year old son along and hiked a hill above town to shoot the comet and moon together. He was ready for bed so I just had him put snow clothes over his jammies. Fun and I'm happy with how it turned out with the clouds and earthshine.

Pentax K-5 & Pentax A*300mm f/4

IMGP3156 by MattB.net, on Flickr

Who else got a shot of it? Let's see em!

[wfooshee]

Here's what I got tonight, the 13th. I was surprised how little time it was visible. It's low enough on the horizon that by the time the sky is dark enough to see it, it's close to setting itself. It actually disappeared before it set, couldn't shine through the thick air at the horizon, I guess. I would think that as the moon fills out over the next few days, this will be harder and harder to see. Still, you don't want to wait for its next appearance in 106,000 years!

I kept the ISO low for noise, but the tradeoff is long exposure, and even just 4 seconds gave me a streak. This is a 1-for-1 crop of the center of the frame, pixel-for-pixel out of the camera. Converting to JPG has ruined the sky, though.

[mattb]

Not bad considering all that additional atmosphere and humidity you have down there! I tried again last night but clouds prevented a sighting. I think it's fun just to catch an image at all of something like this, and it's gravy if it comes out nice.
I made different trade-offs for my image. I went with higher ISO (800) figuring the sensitivity was worth the noise and that allowed for a 1.6-2s shutter speed which kept things pretty sharp. I also used the 2s mirror lock timer to keep vibrations to a minimum. I used light noise reduction in LR4 just to smooth it out a bit without softening it too much.

[wfooshee]

I went out again tonight. When I say "out," understand that my viewing point is all of 200 yards from the house, so why not? I didn't make the effort to get out into the deep dark countryside, but to my west there's less light than any other direction, since I'm looking over the bay that direction. Still, I have thicker air here at sea level (did I mention bay?) than does Gunnison (7700 feet! Do you have to carry oxygen around with you? ,) and looking low on the horizon just makes that worse. So anyway, I tried a bunch of shots, shorter exposures, higher ISOs, and different combinations. This is the best I got, but I like last night's shot better. I did not boost this exposure, it really wasn't full dark when I took this.
Again, the comet disappeared before it actually set. From first becoming visible (with the sky not quite dark) to disappearing in the horizon haze was probably 15, maybe 20 minutes. If I wasn't so lazy (and hungry, not having eaten dinner yet!) I would take a ride up to the hills north of here where it's darker.

D7000, 70-300 ED VR at 300mm, 1 second, f:4.6, ISO 3200, much noise filtering in Photoshop's RAW processor, 1-to-1 crop.

[mattb]

That's nice! I tried again last night but low clouds to the west blocked it. Got some other fun night sky shots but no visible comet. I didn't make it out again tonight.
I think living here at 7703 is nice. Cool nights for sleeping in the summer, good skiing nearby in the winter, and I feel like superman when I go to sea level (as long as it's not too hot).
We like to say the harsh winters keep the riffraff out (or in).

[Don Schaeffer]

I live the moon-comet shot. I think it's an absolute classic.

[armando_m]

I tried last night but never saw it , we had a number of days where it was cloudy, and I do not think I have a good viewing point , there are hills all over the place and even when i went high, I'm afraid the horizon may not have been low enough

Your first image is absolutely fantastic !!!

[Eric Dobis]

I've tried, but the weather here in Michigan makes it a real challenge. Matt B, you have a really nice capture! The clouds moon and comet make it a super shot! One to be proud of for sure.

[mattb]

Thanks for all the comments - I really appreciate them!
I felt like I got a little lucky with that first night out to shoot the comet. I haven't seen it since then. I guess being prepared for a lucky break pays off!