Comet Tempel-1 July 3-4, 2005
Monday, July 4th, 2005A group of us from various local astronomy groups were invited to witness the impact from the Myer-Wombel observatory atop Mt Evans, Colorado. Here is an animation made from 40 of 300 images shot Saturday. Occasional wind gusts blurred most of the 8.5 sec exposures. I also had the gain set too low, and forgot to take any dark frames — maybe I can blame it on lack of oxygen this time (altitude was 14,148 ft). The trip to the observatory was a great experience, the scenery gorgeous, and the observatory is simply amazing. Thanks to Dr.Stencel and the DU grads for hosting us!
Equipment used Celestron Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam2 video camera. Temperature was 30°F, transparency varied between good and poor, turbulence good (6/10), partly cloudy with occasional thin clouds, and wind was 2 to 30+ mph.