Leonard is getting brighter! This image integrates 1 hour of 1 min exposures with an 8" EdgeHD at 0.7x (f/7). Interestingly, at this focal length the comet moved significantly over 3 minutes, leading to "glowing bar" cores if imaged longer than a minute.
The star trails help show the comet's motion over the course of 1 hour.
If you look closely, you can see a hint of the ion tail separating at the upper edge.
Processing details:
1) Stack 60 x 1 min in AstroPixelProcessor using comet registration
2) Light pollution removal in APP as normal, export to 16 bit TIFF
3) Auto-tone, Auto-contrast, Auto-color, export to TIF
4)
minimal denoising in Topaz: 1/100 denoise in "severe" profile, 0 on all other settings
5) Final touchup in photoshop: auto-levels, some slight contrast stretching
Compare to lower-powered prior images:
* 2-hour integrated exposure on November 3, 2021:
https://www.astrobin.com/w7e57d/* 3-hour integrated exposure on November 12, 2021:
https://www.astrobin.com/ubw92d/B/
Comments