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Just captured comet Lulin next to Praesepe (Open cluster - M44 - NGC 2632) a few minutes ago with my Nikon D60 at 200mm. The image is a stack of 7 captures one at 45 seconds and the rest at 30 seconds plus one 30 second dark frame. The moon was still out so I had to keep the exposures short.

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Tags: lulin comet praesepe m44 ngc2632 || 0 comments

Finally got a chance to test out my new 55-200mm Nikkor ED VR lens. Here's an animation of lulin and a satellite passing to the left. I believe this is a mid-earth orbiting satellite, but I don't have time to research at the moment. I know it's not a low-earth orbiting version because these frames are at 200mm zoom, from 1.5 to 2 minutes long and the satellite hardly moves.

Full-res version >>

Tags: lulin comet satellite || 0 comments

Spent a good deal of time out in the cold tonight viewing Orion nebula, and then the Saturn/Lulin show which was an awesome sight! I did manage to get a few nice captures of each. Took me quite a while to get the scope aligned as I have yet to purchase a polar alignment scope. I think that will be something I am going to order this weekend.

Orion Nebula through my 6" reflector and Nikon D60 at prime focus (ISO 1600 @ 30 seconds):

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Comet Lulin next to Saturn using stock D60 lens at 55mm (ISO 1600 @ 299 seconds):

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Comet Lulin through my 6" reflector and D60 at prime focus (ISO 3200 @ 328 seconds):

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Tags: nebula lulin orion comet saturn || 0 comments

Captured a few nice images of Lulin tonight with the Nikon D60 from Talking Rock, GA. It was extremely cold out there! I'm still trying to get warm after 30 minutes inside. Weather.com says 27, feels like 20...that's freakin cold when you're just standing there next to the scope!

Anyway, the first is of Lulin at 55mm:

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Next is one at 18mm:

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And finally one through my 6" reflector at prime focus (it was too cold to properly align, so there's a bit of trailing):

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If you are planning to get a look at comet Lulin, here's a simple way to find it.

1. Download and install Stellarium, one of the best open source planetarium software available.
2. Edit the ssystem.ini file (it's in the stellarium/data folder - I'm running OpenSuse Linux so it's /usr/local/share/stellarium/data/ssystem.ini) and add the following code.

[lulin]
name = C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
parent = Sun
radius = 100
oblateness = 0.0
halo = true
color = 1.0,1.0,1.0
tex_halo = star16x16.png
tex_map = nomap.png
coord_func = comet_orbit
orbit_TimeAtPericenter = 2454842.112213313327
orbit_PericenterDistance = 1.211815031505141
orbit_Eccentricity = 1.000243857235593
orbit_ArgOfPericenter = 136.8421983153854
orbit_AscendingNode = 338.5047481504214
orbit_Inclination = 178.3725975895116
lighting = false
albedo = 1
orbit_visualization_period = 10000000000

3. Fire up Stellarium and search for (F3) "C/2007 N3".

Here's a screen capture of what you should see. Obviously you will want to setup your location (F6) first.

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Edit: Latest data can be found at JPL by clicking here.

tp = orbit_TimeAtPericenter
q = orbit_PericenterDistance
e = orbit_Eccentricity
peri = orbit_ArgOfPericenter
node = orbit_AscendingNode
i = orbit_Inclination

Tags: lulin stellarium || 0 comments