I took this image 4 Days before the 'New Horizons' space probe flyby of Pluto after a 9 1/2 year journey to get there! Pluto is mag 14.1 so quite faint, and slightly trailed over the 40 minute stack sequence. This image shows a cropped field. and is annotated to show Pluto based on information from WikiSky website, Starry Night Pro and close examination of start and end images in the 40 minute sequence. see uncropped version also. DeepSkyStacker 3.3.4 Stacked 80% (13) of 17 Images ISO 800 @ 120 Sec, 71 DARK @ 120 Sec, 32 BIAS, 20 FLATS, Post-processed with Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 Telescope - PowerNewt 200mm f/4 with PowerNewt(ASA) f/2.84 Reducer/Coma Corrector,No filter, Baader BCF modified Canon 70D DSLR field 90' x 134' , Ambient 9C. EQMOD EQASCOM with Ascom 6 for mount control. Backyard EOS Pro 3.1.2 for Image acquisition. Mount - Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro. Guidescope - Orion ShortTube 80 with Starlight Xpress SuperStar (Mono) CCD Auto Guider and Stark Labs PHD auto guiding software.
This was just a quick snap to see if I could pick up this comet that suddenly brightened late in its journey around The Sun. At 11 degrees above the western horizon with a young Moon in the sky it was unlikely to be spectacular. The comet with two tails at 12 O'clock and 3 O'clock is just visible in the lower mid left around the equilateral triangle point with Venus and Jupiter, the brightest objects in this field. Canon 600D 1ith Canon 18-200mm IS lens on tripod - 10Sec, ISO 1600, F/5.6 @ 90mm on fixed camera tripod
The Moon and Jupiter rose together just before the New year about 1 Moon diameter apart. By 3:30AM they were 3 Moon diameters apart as shown here. See also uncropped version for 200mm APS-C image scale. A quick snap after returning from New year's Eve party. Post processed with Adobe Photoshop CC 2015
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