Comet C/2023 A3

Image Critiques Nightscape & Astro Critiques
1

Processed Image:

CometC2023A3_20241016_130mm.jpg
CometC2023A3_20241016_130mm.jpg999Ă—1500 595 KB

Single, Unprocessed Exposure (1 of 16):

_DSC2878.jpg
_DSC2878.jpg1000Ă—1500 623 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

This was my first attempt at imaging Comet C/2023 A3, on the evening of June 16, 2024. The first photo is the result of stacking 16 separate images of the comet using PixInsight software (plus bias, darks, and flat frames). I included the second photo as an example of one of the unprocessed exposures for reference so that you can see how much information can be derived from the processing of the 16 stacked images in PixInsight. The nearly full moon prevented a dark sky background.

Specific Feedback

I’m not really looking for a critique of this image - just sharing for information purposes, but feel free to offer any suggestions you may have for improvement in processing. My PixInsight processing skills are a bit rusty.

Technical Details

Camera: Nikon Z7ii Mirrorless
Lens: Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 S, at 130mm fl, f/4
ISO: 400
Exposure: 16 frames, 15 sec each
Bias, Darks, and Flat Frames included in processing
Tracker: Move Shoot Move Nomad

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2

Wonderful, with a great view of the anti-tail!! And a great example of how major noise reduction can let you increase contrast (to simplify a complex process) to bring out detail.

And in the correct orientation!! (This is maybe an hour after sunset and the comet head is pointing toward the sun, with the horizon below the bottom of the frame.) If I shoot it again (weather is iffy) I’ll rotate the camera correctly. The tracker rotates itself at a strange-looking angle as it follows objects across the sky and the “camera” (a glorified sensor) is in a round housing that looks like a large soup can without a very obvious up/down, but it can be rotated as desired. As it shoots the images I’m looking at them on an iPad (they look a lot like the unprocessed one above) and I really could have been paying more attention to vertical.

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3

That’s really cool to see what the images look like that you are working with Kieth; thanks for posting that!

4

Thanks, Diane. I usually orient my deep sky astro images with north up in the frame, but in this case I was also shooting some shots with the tops of trees in the foreground, so I kept this orientation parallel with the horizon when I increased the focal length.

5

Thanks, John. Yes, I thought it might be of interest for some people to see just how much data can be pulled out of a stack of images. The number of stars even surprised me, as the sky was lit by the full moon.

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6

I’ve usually done N up as well, but with something like the comet, which is reasonably close to the horizon, I think having the frame vertical makes very good sense.

I was surprised (and delighted) how clean a shot you got with a “regular” camera and lens and that much abient light. The excellent noise reduction from stacking frames is the secret to being able to increase contrast on a dim subject and get a good image.

1 Like