Yikes, another image of C/2022 E3 (ZTF)!! Even Fritz Zwicky would probably be tired of all the images of this semi-eponymously-named comet.
ZTF represented a big opportunity for me to try several new things. One was tracking at a non-sidereal rate. Voyager, which is great software in most respects, does not support non-sidereal tracking directly, but I wrote a Python script that Voyager sent to The SkyX, instructing it to run the Paramount at the comet's rate. The MyT tracked so well that I really didn't need to register the images using CometAlignment in PI, as the nucleus in each of the sub-exposures stacked up quite neatly.
I have been using The SkyX for years, but this little project has given me new respect for it. It has been flawless and very useful in planning my imaging of the comet. It gives me all of the ancillary information I need and the ephemeris calculations are spot on. It's an investment of time, but has not disappointed.
One problem with tracking is that the background stars are slightly trailed, and to do this job right I will need to go back and get an untrailed exposure of the field and sub that into the image - I'll do that when the moon is waning in a couple of weeks.
I followed the guidance of
@Adam Block in his new Horizons tutorials on comet processing (and which are being rapidly updated as Adam refines his own approach ). Rather than going into detail here, I would just refer folks to his website at
https://www.adamblockstudios.com/. The money for Adam's tutorials is less than the price of a filter. A great return on investment.
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