Much belated Mars and comet c/2022 E3 ZTF

[KMH]

Here is our image of comet c/2022 E3 ZTF as it passed by Mars on 10-Feb-23.
Stellarvue 80mm refractor with field flattener
Canon 6D
42 frames of 45 seconds each
Processed in PixInsight with Star XTerminator, and a bit of Photoshop
Most of the credit for this goes to my wife Peggy, who has spent a great deal of time learning PixInsight. Very difficult, but seems to be worth it in the end.

Kevin

mars and comet e3 ztf 021023 v2.jpg (861.25 KiB) Viewed 1001 times

[Montana]

This is truly beautiful what a fabulous partnership you have

Alexandra

[rigel123]

Excellent shot!

[Radon86]

Hi Kevin,


Wow ! Amazing. I think I will try my Canon 6D. It is an excellent camera, just a little heavy.

Any chance of showing us a single exposure before any processing ?

Why ? Because it would help me decide what is a good exposure.

Magnus

[Radon86]

Hi,
Why are there so many stars ! Amazing capture

Magnus

[KMH]

Hi Kevin,


Wow ! Amazing. I think I will try my Canon 6D. It is an excellent camera, just a little heavy.

Any chance of showing us a single exposure before any processing ?

Why ? Because it would help me decide what is a good exposure.

Magnus

Thanks!
Unfortunately this comet is now pretty far from the sun/earth, and probably too small/faint to image. It was really nice when it was closer though. The exposures were 45 sec each. Any longer and there would have been too much relative motion between the comet and the stars. Plus, although my mount was tracking, I was not guiding, so going much longer would have risked star trails.

The 6D is pretty good for astrophotography, either with a telescope or with a normal camera lens for wider fields. The best exposure will depend on a lot of things - how dark your sky is, if you're guiding/tracking or not, and of course what the subject is.

Kevin