Machholz nucleus alignment ..Images Plus

Hello all,

Here is a last attempt to improve on my Machholz image from last week. I used the nucleus as the alignment point in an attempt to improve on the detail in the comets tail. This was taken on 1/11 which was after passing the "7 Sisters" . Sure wish I was able to try when the tail appeared to be more intact.

Digital Rebel, Orion 80ED
Stack of 9 converted RAWs @iso400 2min.
Dark frame of 4 averaged and subtracted.
Aligned and Median combined.

Your comments/help are welcome,
Tom Tolla

Attached Image:

That’s a very nice image, Tom. If you do a 0.5 log stretch on it you can bring out a bit more of the tail structure. If you really want to see the tail detail, convert to luminance, convert to negative, and move the black point over a bit. The result is not as pretty but gives a few more arc minutes of tail detail.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

Latest Machholz Stuff http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm