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Cambria, CA, USA
05:40 am
Takahashi 106 scope, Nikon D810A DSLR camera, Astro-Physics Mach1 tracing mount. I used a tool in the mount software that allowed me to download the ephemeris from JPL and track the comet rather than the stars. This is a single 120-second image.
No stacking. Single image. I used Star Xterminator in PixInsight to remove the stars, and stretched the comet image without them. Then I used Blur Xterminator and the PixInsight tool Morphological Transformation to sharpen the stars, so they appeared less oval. Then I recombined.
I woke up at 2:30 a.m. on January 31st to try my hand at comet tracking with the Astro-Physics mount software tool Horizons and an ephemeris from JPL. All my efforts at stacking turned out poorly, so this is simply the best single 120-second image.
