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The skies had been clear so I walked out to a local spot at sunset with a good view of the western horizon, with a tripod and the 2 OM-1 cameras in hand one with the 12-40mm and the other with the 40-150mm.
At 6:15pm there were clouds on the western horizon, sky mostly clear but clouds in the west...I took some shots with the 40-150mm at 40mm
..and a nice view of the Moon coming up behind me, the full Moon is good but not so much when it isn't the main astronomy target!
I waited watching the clouds until about 7pm, searching for the comet with binoculars and on the camera LCD, the clouds started to clear. I switched to the 12-40mm and took a wide 12mm shot - this was at 7pm. I determined that the bright star above the tree was Arcturus, so the comet should be well to the left of that. I couldn't see it, maybe the sky was still too bright. It is in this shot, later I realised it is visible as a faint smudge about 1/3rd in from the left of this frame half way up!
In this crop from the above shot the comet is here, can you see it?! The signal to noise is too much...if I'd seen it at the time I'd have not taken such a wide 12mm shot..maybe one at 150mm.
So I waited a bit longer for the sky to darken, but the clouds came back at 7:15pm. I didn't look like they'd clear any time soon and I needed to get home to cook dinner. The comet must be behind that thick cloud to the middle left of this frame.
After dinner the clouds had cleared. No time to walk back to the original location so I popped out into a field at the back of our street, not the best place with a hedge and power lines. At about 8:50pm I spotted the comet on the camera LCD and got a shot of it just before it disappeared behind the hedge! The coma / nucleus was quite bright but the Moon was running interference brightening the sky so the tail was not very bright at all. Stacking some shots would probably be better.
The comet was nowhere near as bright as I expected which made it quite difficult to find. It would have been better earlier in the week if only the weather hadn't been clouds and rain!
When the moon is not around I might go back to the original location on a clear night to see if I can get a Milky Way shot. Also I could hear some Tawny Owls calling at the nearby local nature reserve which is good to know.
Bill
At 6:15pm there were clouds on the western horizon, sky mostly clear but clouds in the west...I took some shots with the 40-150mm at 40mm
..and a nice view of the Moon coming up behind me, the full Moon is good but not so much when it isn't the main astronomy target!
I waited watching the clouds until about 7pm, searching for the comet with binoculars and on the camera LCD, the clouds started to clear. I switched to the 12-40mm and took a wide 12mm shot - this was at 7pm. I determined that the bright star above the tree was Arcturus, so the comet should be well to the left of that. I couldn't see it, maybe the sky was still too bright. It is in this shot, later I realised it is visible as a faint smudge about 1/3rd in from the left of this frame half way up!
In this crop from the above shot the comet is here, can you see it?! The signal to noise is too much...if I'd seen it at the time I'd have not taken such a wide 12mm shot..maybe one at 150mm.
So I waited a bit longer for the sky to darken, but the clouds came back at 7:15pm. I didn't look like they'd clear any time soon and I needed to get home to cook dinner. The comet must be behind that thick cloud to the middle left of this frame.
After dinner the clouds had cleared. No time to walk back to the original location so I popped out into a field at the back of our street, not the best place with a hedge and power lines. At about 8:50pm I spotted the comet on the camera LCD and got a shot of it just before it disappeared behind the hedge! The coma / nucleus was quite bright but the Moon was running interference brightening the sky so the tail was not very bright at all. Stacking some shots would probably be better.
The comet was nowhere near as bright as I expected which made it quite difficult to find. It would have been better earlier in the week if only the weather hadn't been clouds and rain!
When the moon is not around I might go back to the original location on a clear night to see if I can get a Milky Way shot. Also I could hear some Tawny Owls calling at the nearby local nature reserve which is good to know.
Bill
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