Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

marion165 · Post by **marion165** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 1:37 am

I am anxiously awaiting the perihelion of Comet ISON in the end on November. I have spent years photographing astronomical subjects at night and twilight but have no experience when they are so close to the sun.

The possibility of ISON being a daytime object (magnitude estimates -5 to -12) exists. Has anyone had any experience photographing such objects in the daytime 3 to 5 degrees from the sun? I attempted to photograph McNaught a few years back near the sun with no success. Are there any stacking, processing procedures or filters that would help? Any feedback would be appreciated!

watcher · Post by **watcher** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:01 am

Ison has been photographed with a 4″ telescope by an amateur, is this the smallest yet?
http://cometison.blogspot.co.uk/
Cant see it with my 6″ refractor……..

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:46 am

I have no experience but would like to help the conversation start. I would guess that using a red filter or infrared camera might help because the shorter wavelengths are scattered by the atmosphere. But since IR gets absorbed by water vapor you'd have to try to get above the atmosphere for that option. But hey, the Webb telescope is going to collect light from planets near stars which is a similar task so IR must be good for it...

marion165 · Post by **marion165** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 4:57 pm

Geckzilla --

I agree filtering out the shorter wavelengths would help as well as some stacking to improve the signal to noise ratio. I found an example of McNaught photographed using stacking and the green channel of the RGB. http://darkerview.com/wordpress/?p=6168 I wonder what the final image would look like if it was taken with the red channel? Again - IR is another thought entirely!

marion165 · Post by **marion165** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:00 pm

Watcher --

I found a photo taken with a 300 mm telephoto lens; it is barely visible, but it is there! http://spaceweather.com/gallery/indiv_u ... d_id=87088

marion165 · Post by **marion165** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 6:20 pm

An interesting link about how rare a "daytime comet" really is: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/weve-o ... ng-the-day

marion165 · Post by **marion165** » Thu Nov 28, 2013 2:36 pm

Greetings,

Thanksgiving day is here! Is anyone going to attempt a daytime observation?

http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_up ... msabb05no5

And remember -- Be careful my friends!

Starship Asterisk*

Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

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Re: Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

Re: Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

Re: Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

Re: Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight

Re: Photographing Comet ISON in Daylight