Equipment: Celestron AVX mount, Vixen 81SD, 0.67x reducer/flattener, Altair 183C.
Capture: SharpCap 4.0, 60x60s lights, 25 each bias/flats/darks. Camera gain=200, black_level=50.
Processing: PixInsight using Comet Alignment module.
The combined optics have a focal length of 418mm, which gave me a good field of view.
The comet's co-ordinates were obtained from https://theskylive.com/comets after configuring my location. The comet's RA and DEC were input into the mount handset and I had a lucky first time hit (using the Display Histogram Stretch).
The processing workflow was:
- calibrate, debayer & register the lights
- create a comet master (no stars)
- create a star master (no comet)
- merge the 2 masters using comet_master+star_master in PixelMath
- dynamic background extraction
- minor histogram adjustments
There are many possible adjustments to be made in the Comet Alignment. I can probably improve on this result if I spent time trying various settings (although it may be a case of diminishing returns).
Dave