Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy sighting
Posted by Wesley on
Comet Lovejoy is on the right of HD 94456 (center)
Comet Lovejoy (lower right), HD 94456 (lower left), HD94233 (top right)
Comet ISON doesn't rise too high above the horizon before the sunrise washes its view away, so the light pollution in my area is prone to getting in the way of the view as well. In contrast, comet Lovejoy rises up quite high, so it would be in a relatively clear view. So for my first attempt to photograph a comet using my Canon SX50 HS, comet Lovejoy was set as the target.
When I got out to take its pictures, the comet was getting out of Leo Minor and moving westward to Ursa Major. I tried to locate it with Star Walk app on my iPad, but the comet was nowhere to be found, wasting a full hour. So I consulted CalSky instead and it said that it was actually a bit higher up. I searched for the comet there instead and immediately found it.
I set the camera to its most sensitive setting - ISO 6400 at 1-second exposure, and it barely recorded the fuzzy ball. Interestingly, the "bright" star next to it, HD 94456 (HIP 53360), was merely 7.4 magnitude. The 9.2 magnitude HD 94233 (HIP 53216) looked similar in brightness. This meant that the camera would at best only be able to record comets that are visible to the naked eye. I guess photographing comet ISON may be quite a bit more challenging.
On the upside, this sighting posts the upper limits of SX50 HS astrophotography at about 10 magnitude. This should be enough to photograph Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn's moon Titan.
Settings: 1200mm - ISO 6400 - 1s
Time: 2013-11-18 05:14 - 05:15 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Photo 1: 05:14, Reduced to 12.5% size, 21 photos stacked
Photo 2: 05:15, Reduced to 50% size, 27 photos stacked
Stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8. Click the photo for 2x size.