Comet Tail Streamer Photos

[Radar]

Just finished scanning my second roll of film from Saturday night.

Even though the first one looks like an Aurora, it is the tail of the comet from dark skies. As you see it in this photo; was what we could see with the naked eye from this dark site we were at. This tail fanned 60 degrees across the Western Horizon. As you can see, after the comet had set, and the sky had become darker, the tail was magnificent. A site to behold in anyone's book.

The main difficulty with shooting film at twilight is knowing how long to expose for. To long and the image becomes over exposed, not long enough and no detail in the tail.

The second image is simply the comet before setting.

Both shots were done with a Pentax SP2 Asahi on Kodak Elite Chrome 200.

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[CanisMajorTom]

Whoa! Nice shots mate. :welldone:

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Radar

Nice images.

Clear dark skies are just not possible in southern Tasmania, much to everyone's frustration. It does need a dark sky to both see & image the tail synchrones. My last images were just after sunset were in too bright a sky to get the tail.

I will have to change my sign off signature to:

Cloudy skies...

[rogerg]

Hey Ray,

Great images!

Sorry I've taken so long to get back here, I lost my login details and then this comet turned up and all that... anyhow.

You've captured the fan very nicely, congrats.

Btw... what exposure times? Tracked? By the look of the bushesit's either tracked a short amount or the wind hand kicked up already?

Roger.

[Radar]

Hi Shev and Rog.

I would have thought your skies were very dark Shev, but when I saw that photo of the city underneath, I can understand your light pollution problem. I guess the bush fires are not helping much either.

Rog, exposure times were very short. Between 1 and 5 seconds. Any longer and the film was getting over exposed. I used a 135 mm pentax lens and a 50mm Nikkor lens for the tail fan.

Good to see you on the site mate.

What a great comet this has turned out to be.

Cheers

Ray

[Phil.H]

Great photos Radar i love the tail in then shots. It is a comet that we will all never forget. Best comet i have seen.:thumbsupmate:
Phil

[Tenacious Del]

Holy Moly! Nice work Radar. That tail is amazing.

[wakaleo]

Great shot Radar!

[Mick]

Awesome film photos mate. It's probably going to be sometime before we see such a beautiful comet again.

[Radar]

Thanks Del, Phil, Wakaleo and Mick. Whenever I pick up my film, there is always a few seconds of mixed thoughts about what I've captured. I always take a sneak peak in the car before I get home. I turn on the interior light and hold my roll of film up to it to see what I have caught. God knows what the other drivers at the traffic lights must think. :crazy:

[beren]

:welldone: Wow great results Ray

[h0ughy]

wow they are awesome images Radar!:Chessy_Smile:

this is all I managed to get

[Tenacious Del]

Nice job there Houghy. Are they DSLR? If so, can you tell me what kind of DSLR you used please? I'm researching all different kinds at the moment.