Comet PanSTARRS 2011 L4

ImagenEstilo

I went out on Wednesday night to see could I find something and all I got was a hazy tail sort of a cloud in a photo. Probably because I arrived far too late and was absolutely freezing the nibblers off me that I abandoned it and went home. Got another pass out last night and went a little earlier and more prepared and got this. It looks amazing in full size.



At it's brightest it is only just visible to the naked eye. Even with binocs it is impossible to locate. The only way I could spot it was repeatedly taking photos and analysing them on the LCD. It wasn't until about 25 minutes after the sunset that the comet became just about visible in the LCD and it got better from there on for about 20 minutes and then started fizzling out.

I've some time lapse of it too that I need to process.

It is marvellous seeing this sort of stuff. Just makes you realise how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things.

Dave

PopeBuckfastXVI

Hi Dave,

What's your location and what direction in the sky is at in the evening?

Edit: And fantastic pic by the way!

ImagenEstilo

I'm in Malaga in southern Spain so it will be higher in the sky. I used the moon as the locator. The crescent of if essentially acts as an arrow pointing to the comet once the sun sets. The comet should be more or less along the line created by the setting sun and the crescent moon. The further north, the closer it will be to the horizon when the sun sets so scan the areas above the horizon first. It's a tough one to spot.

Zillah

"It's amazing in full size, guys!"
*does not post full size*

PopeBuckfastXVI

ImagenEstilo wrote: »

I'm in Malaga in southern Spain so it will be higher in the sky. I used the moon as the locator. The crescent of if essentially acts as an arrow pointing to the comet once the sun sets. The comet should be more or less along the line created by the setting sun and the crescent moon. The further north, the closer it will be to the horizon when the sun sets so scan the areas above the horizon first. It's a tough one to spot.

It's funny cause I was shooting westward at the coast on Wednesday night at about 7pm I'll have to go over the shots with a fine tooth comb!

ImagenEstilo

I've put a bit a blurb with loads of photos and a wee time lapse (that I need to improve in terms of quality) on my blog: Comet PanSTARRS. I need to proof read it but the directions and way I found it are all detailed. A hard bugger to spot.

If anyone has any info on how to convert MOV files to AVI or MPEG4 without losing quality will they let me know. I'd very much appreciate it.

Dave

Zillah

ImagenEstilo wrote: »

I've put a bit a blurb with loads of photos and a wee time lapse (that I need to improve in terms of quality) on my blog: Comet PanSTARRS. I need to proof read it but the directions and way I found it are all detailed. A hard bugger to spot.

If anyone has any info on how to convert MOV files to AVI or MPEG4 without losing quality will they let me know. I'd very much appreciate it.

Dave

Handbrake will do it. AVI is a pretty old and bad format though, so if you can avoid it entirely that would be a good call. Will Youtube not accept the MOV?

11811

ImagenEstilo wrote: »

If anyone has any info on how to convert MOV files to AVI or MPEG4 without losing quality will they let me know. I'd very much appreciate it.

Dave

Zillah wrote: »

Handbrake will do it. AVI is a pretty old and bad format though, so if you can avoid it entirely that would be a good call. Will Youtube not accept the MOV?

MPEG streamclip is probably even handier. http://www.squared5.com/

Super shot of the comet. Missed it myself

ImagenEstilo

Zillah and 11811,

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. That worked a treat. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to video processing but that Squared 5 site is the biz.

Zillah wrote: »

"It's amazing in full size, guys!"
*does not post full size*

I've added a link on the blog page to a gallery with full size images. They look the best on a Mac or a retina Ipad. They are the original images converted from RAW to JPEG at 100% quality. The last one of the observatory with the stars above is my personal fave.

Thanks again for the help guys.
Dave

PopeBuckfastXVI

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

It's funny cause I was shooting westward at the coast on Wednesday night at about 7pm I'll have to go over the shots with a fine tooth comb!

Well it turns out I caught the bugger! Thanks for posting this up Dave... never would have realised otherwise!

ImagenEstilo

You almost needed to be tethered to something like an iPad to find it. Glad you found it.

I came across a photo there on some comet page where a guy was out in the Attacama desert and he captured both PanSTARRS and Lemmon in the same frame. Savage photo. Not a hint of light pollution though so it makes it all the easier no!!

Dave

AnimalRights

I read this thread as Comet PornStarrs 2011 L4

ImagenEstilo

AnimalRights wrote: »

I read this thread as Comet PornStarrs 2011 L4

Lol! You know, I was thinking exactly the same thing last week and was going to put this in the little blurb on my blog but then I said people wouldn't take me seriously (not that they do anyway). What sort of accent would you need to have to make it sound like you are saying Pornstars instead of Panstarrs. South African maybe, Australian, hmmm.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend :-)
Dave