As your resident astronomer I am pleased to announce the following as a public service.....
Unless you've been hibernating all winter, you know that Comet Lulin
is on the move!
Tonight and tomorrow morning, Comet Lulin will be zooming past Saturn, and pending wind and clouds, and seeing and the typical weather gremlins we have round the world, we have a very good viewing and photo-op for recording this once in a lifetime sight.
So, get your camera batteries charged and your film loaded for this great opportunity.
Or just get your binoculars and telescopes at the ready and watch the show.
It's going to be splendiferous!
A finder chart is here:
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2009/24feb09/skymap_north_lulin2.gif?PHPSESSID=2lbh0fpr16cjlrmi13id2gpu31Personally I like to shoot wide field shots of things like this so the surrounding star field is visible and you get the idea that space is BIG!
I use ISO 400 at f/4 and mount the camera on a tracking mount in order to keep the stars from making trails.
Star trails make a neat effect too if you don't have a tracking mount. Just let the exposure go for 15-20 minutes or so for an interesting photo. YOu can go hours too if you like. Sometime I let my shots go all night long!
Good luck!
Becky
