Comet Machholz

This shot of the long lasting Comet Machholz was taken during the February new moon at the Chiefland Astronomy Village site. As can be seen, the comet still sports a nice tail. It took significant stretching to bring this out, hence the higher noise. The image was taken with short 1 min exposures, due to the higher wind during the early part of the night. Even at 405mm of FL, star shapes were distorted due to the wind, which did eventually settle down.

Image info:

Takahashi Sky90

Starlight Express
SXV-H9C

39x1 mins

f/4.5

Stacked in Maxim with SigmaReject and processed in Astroart (no darks and no flats)

unguided

2.5.05

Chiefland, FL