Comet Ison- One to watch for this year?

[Chr1stof]

Quite possibly a fantastic chance to photograph a large comet coming relatively close to earth this year. Astronomers are hoping it's close pass to The Sun will not destroy it and it will become as bright as a full moon looking from Earth.

If it gets too close we may have to get Bruce Willis on the case

http://earthsky.org/space/big-sun-diving-comet-ison-might-be-spectacular-in-2013

Seriously though, I was thinking that some discussion on how to photograph something like this may help?

 

[Pookeyhead]

Yep.. I've been keeping tabs on this one.


You'd shoot it the same way you'd shoot stars, and there are already tons of tutorials on guides on here for that. If it does reach the brightness they suggest (which I doubt.. but hope I'm wrong) then a technique similar to shooting the moon would be best... again, loads of tutorials on here already.


It will occupy quite a large part of the sky, so wide lens shots will be best. Difficult to predict though.

 

[Astro]

Unfortunately many comets promise so much but sadly fail in the 'fireworks ' department.
My fingers are crossed this time, again !

 

[artyman]

...................
If it gets too close we may have to get Bruce Willis on the case

We're Doomed!!!

 

[WilliamC]

I just clocked this one yesterday and hope it actually delivers where so many have disappointed. I saw Hale-Bopp ('97?) most nights it was around but to see the tail properly you had to be well away from light pollution. Ison sounds like it could be a helluva lot brighter so there should be some belting opportunities (if the UK weather cooperates) in most areas. Fingers crossed!

 

[arclight]

Unfortunately many comets promise so much but sadly fail in the 'fireworks ' department.
My fingers are crossed this time, again !

Yes, and that applies to a lot of such sort of events. Astronomers seem to get carried away by their own enthusiasm. Haley's comet was bummed up as going to be spectacular back in 1986. I viewed it over several nights in a totally dark sky. It was just a faintly visible blur through binoculars.

Maybe, just maybe, this one will be better.

 

[hollis_f]

Yes, and that applies to a lot of such sort of events. Astronomers seem to get carried away by their own enthusiasm. Haley's comet was bummed up as going to be spectacular back in 1986.

Not by astronomers it wasn't. Maybe some janitor at an observatory somewhere told a reporter that it would be amazing. Or perhaps a reporter looked up the 1910 appearance, got it mixed up with the great coment of 1910, assumed that individual comets always looked the same and published. Then other journos just copied the copy.

If a newspaper has two sources, one saying "It's going to be the most amazing sight ever" and the other saying "Well, it'll probably fall apart when it passes close to the Sun, but if it doesn't then it could be bright enough to see the tail quite well" - which do you think gets published?