Al Paslow Astronomy Collection

Images and events of personal interest.

Comet Hartly taken at Mingo creek obs using a 5'' refractor mounted on a 24'' reflector I used my samsung sdc-435ccd.
Dan McKeel captured this image of this unusal comet on the evening of Oct 25, 2007 while the object was visible to the unaided eye. Equipment - Stellarvue 80 mm refractor telescope. Canon 300 D Digital camers. Exposure 1/3 sec., at 1600 ASA.
Jayson's final image also taken Jan 11, 2007. The Great Comet of 2007.

Great job Jayson !! Thanks so much for sharing this with us!!
Jayson McIvor recalls... "I took these from the Sammamish Plateau, my hometown, just 20 west of Seattle Washington."

"I love astronomy as a whole, though I don't keep up on the latest news that trickles down. I guess you could say I am more of you typical "couch potato" astronomer.
As for taking a picture of the comet, it is pretty rare to be able to see comets, though it seems in my lifetime (30 years old), that I have been blessed with quite a few." "The backdrop of colors was due to 
sunset, 
the only time in our area when the comet was visible."

Camera Settings:
Nikon D200 using a 105mm f2.5 AIS on a tripod using a remote cord.
Aperture: f-11
Shutter Speed: 2 seconds
ISO: 100
This beautiful image is the first in a sequence of three by Jayson McIvor and was taken on January 11th, at 17:21 Pacific Standard Time (PST).

The sky was not quite dark yet. (See next image by Jayson!)
Joe Perry's image of Comet MCNaught late in the afternoon on Jan 14, 07 taken from Hawaii. Just prior to this the Comet was plainly visible in the daytime sky!  Click on the above image to enlarge.
California Amateur Joe Perry e-mailed this image of the Comet taken in broad daylight on Sunday Jan 14, 2006. Wow!! Click on image above to enlarge.

For a dramatic full size image of this nd other images scroll down the page at:    http://telescopium.org/Comet-McNaught_2.html
The Comet as it asppears in the Daytime sky on Jan 16, 2007 at approx 1:30 pm. The sky has been make dark purposly to show that the planets Mercury & Venus are also nearby. Mercury is a bit over 5 degrees from the sun and Venus is approx. 19 degrees. The great comet is a scant 10.5 degrees from the sun on this date and time. 
 Note 10 degrees is just about a "fist wide" held with your arm fully extended. I imputed the orbital elements into Starry Night Pro to obtain this image. ( North is up on this on all images here.)  Click on the above image to enlarge.
Comet Hartly taken at Mingo creek obs using a 5'' refractor mounted on a 24'' reflector I used my samsung sdc-435ccd.
Comet Hartly taken at Mingo creek obs using a 5'' refractor mounted on a 24'' reflector I used my samsung sdc-435ccd.
Comet Hartly taken at Mingo creek obs using a 5'' refractor mounted on a 24'' reflector I used my samsung sdc-435ccd.
See photo in original gallery.

This site features some great images.