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Hello!

I thought you might enjoy some photos I took of Comet McNaught last night - which is currently putting on a spectacular display in the Southern Hemisphere. It's nowhere near as bright as it was in the Northern Hemisphere, but it sure has become much bigger!

Many thanks to local astrophotographer and star-tour guide Minoru Yoneto, who generously allowed me to mount my camera alongside his own on his tracking mount for the longer exposure shots.

Note: none of the pictures have been cropped, and believe it or not, the first two were taken with the same lens, just different exposures, sensitivities and about one hour apart.



Above: Comet McNaught, 23 January 2007, 10:40pm, taken from Coronet Peak, Queenstown using: Canon EOS 5D, 85mm f1.8 at f2.0, 200 ISO, 5 second exposure on tripod.



Above: Comet McNaught, 23 January 2007, 11:40pm, taken from Coronet Peak, Queenstown using: Canon EOS 5D, 85mm f1.8 at f2.0, 400 ISO, 1 minute exposure on tracked mount.



Above: Comet McNaught, 23 January 2007, 00:49am, taken from Coronet Peak, Queenstown using: Canon EOS 5D, 17-40mm at 40mm f4.0, 400 ISO, 5.5 minute exposure on tracked mount. Note how tracking the stars has meant the lights of the town have trailed.

Gordon Laing

Wow! That's pretty cool, the trail effect gives it an aurora like feel.

Fantastic pics, Gordon!
unforutnately the time when McNaught was to be seen here at the northern hemisphere was so overcast, that we didn't have a chance to get a view.
B.t.w.: "tracked mount" is something special moving with the stars?
On your third photo one can see that the remarkables are slightly blurred, but the stars are sharp...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi Thomas, yes, a tracked mount is designed for astronomy and astrophotography. They're tilted parallel to the Earth's axis and turn at exactly the same speed as the Earth in order to to counteract its motion. So they actually only perform a full rotation every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds!

This means when you're looking through a telescope or taking a photo, the subject stays still! They're essential when observing with high magnification through a telescope, or for any long exposure astro-photography

Of course since the mounting is moving though, anything on the ground will become slightly blurred. That's what you see in the last picture, although the Remarks are actually off to the left - the Mountain in the far distance just to the lower right of the comet is Walter Peak (I think!).

Gordon