Michael Purcell's Astrophotography
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When I tried to image Comet Shoemaker-Levy in April of 1994, I took a few test images that appeared to show nothing. I had been reading about SL-9 in Sky & Telescope and had examined the Hubble images. The difficulty was that none of the published images gave any indication as to the brightness of the comet fragments, nor of the field of view necessary to see all of pieces. All I could do was to aim the telescope at the star field where I expected the comet to be. My first images literally showed nothing except for a faint star. I then created a longer image by tracking on that star. It was not until I returned home that further processing showed that the faint "star" was indeed one of the SL-9 fragments.
In the image above, the middle left object is Q1, the one below it is Q2, and the faint "star" at the far right is probably P2. For reference, see the pictures in the July 1994 Sky & Telescope, page 20.
I took this picture from Star Hill Inn using their f/11 Celestron C14.
ST-6 Compressed Image
File_version = 3
Data_version = 1
Exposure = 5 minutes
Focal_length = 80.000
Aperture = 40.2000
Response_factor = 1000.000
Note = Picture taken 04/13/94 at 22:53:45
Background = 247
Range = 256
Height = 223
Width = 323
Date = 04/13/94
Time = 22:53:45
Exposure_state = 228
Temperature = -50.04
Number_exposures = 10
Each_exposure = 30 seconds
History = RFEKG
Observer = SBIG SUPER TEAM
X_pixel_size = 0.0230
Y_pixel_size = 0.0270
Pedestal = 273
E_gain = 6.70
Filter = Unknown
Readout_mode = 1
Track_time = 0
Sat_level = 65535
This page last updated on November 1, 1996 Contact Michael Purcell
