Comet Hartley & Double Cluster

Dodging the water-saturated skies (hair-dryer working every 10 minutes to de-mist the optics!) I managed to get a short series of frames to make a mosaic of Comet 103P_Hartley approaching the Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 884 & NGC 869).


The image is compose of 5 frames, each made up of 6 x 1 minute exposures at ISO800, with the exception of the "comet frame" which is actually 6 x 2 minutes at ISO 1600 to bring out the coma in more detail.

All images are prime focus of the MN-190 giving an effective focal length of 1000mm f/5.3.

I have aligned the images on the stars rather than the comet nucleus, giving a pleasing background, but this does show the motion of the comet's nucleus over 12 minutes. Others have obtained images of a faint tail but this is not spectacular.

Jerry