If you are into astronomy, you will be probably be aware of Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas that is doing it's rounds at the moment, the last time this was seen from earth was around 80,000 years ago, that's some time scale, before anything we know today, even current religions.
I'm no historian but I can only imagine as to how people lived back then, no doubt in caves and makes me wonder what they thought when they saw something like this in the skies, because they certainly wouldn't have any light pollution.
I finished work at 4.30 and was wondering thinking all day where to go to photograph the comet, I decided upon Wentworth, a little village on the outskirts of town and I knew of the ideal location, overlooking the village, would make a great shot, now the shots I got yesterday aren't award winning or anything like that, but I've finally got my 3rd comet, although the second one was just a feint smudge, I finally got this beauty, I do love a comet.
I did however get my timings completely wrong, I arrived there for around 5 ish, and thought I'd scope out the place, just to make sure my location was good, yes it was, so I set up the tripod, and eagerly waited for the comet to show, the last time I saw something on the news they said that it would show from around 6-6.30 pm, how wrong was that information.
The light started to fall and so did the temperature, I saw venus rise, with clouds moving infront of it, but nothing else, 7pm came around, and I started seeing other stars, but still no comet, the supermoon that had risen behind me didn't help with my cause either, it was really bright, I didn't even need a torch to see what I was doing. I checked with my app and it roughly pointed to where the comet should be, but I still couldn't see it, fired off a test shot with my camera, and it was there, FINALLY!!!
I started pumping off different shots, and experimenting with focal lengths, I was using my Sony 24-105mm F/4.0 lens, but was shooting at F/5.0 iso around 1600-3200, I was a bit dubious about this lens, yes, it's sharp, but it's bloody hard to focus on the stars with this one, but I think I managed it on this shoot, phew.
I was then in a dilemma, should I stay a bit longer as the clouds were moving in, or call it a day as I was cold, hungy and tired, due to the clouds and the bright moon, I called it a day, but I am so glad I managed to get a few shots of the comet, I'll double check my info the next time I try to see it as it is visible for a few more days before it gets too far away.
Thanks for reading,
All the best :-)
