- Eclipse watchers were hoping to catch a glimpse of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks during the total solar eclipse.
- I wanted to get a picture of it, so I reached out to astrophotographer Dan Bartlett for help.
- But even with his best advice, I wasn’t able to get the shot. Here’s where it all went wrong.
The weeks leading up to Monday’s total solar eclipse became even more exciting when astronomers announced that comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, also known as the “Devil comet,” might be visible during totality.
This massive comet is the size of Mount Everest, burns bright green, and gets its name for the horn-like shape of its coma. So, of course, I wanted to see it.
Not only that — I wanted to try to get a picture of it. But I knew photographing a comet would be no easy feat. They’re unpredictable, moving objects that can either be stunningly visible or near impossible to spot.
I turned to a professional astrophotographer for help.
Advice from a comet photographer
Dan Bartlett has taken hundreds of photos of comets.
To create his striking images, he uses high-tech equipment, including huge telescopes with sky-tracking scopes, and advanced photo-processing software.
Dan Bartlett
Even with his professional skills and equipment, photographing comets can be difficult. Bartlett said he encounters “every challenge you could imagine,” from his scope not working to not being able to get the comet in focus.
As for me, I’m an amateur with only a standard DSLR, a tripod, and my iPhone. But if the weather was clear and the comet was visible, I’d still have a chance of getting the shot, Bartlett said, as long as I paid attention to three things:
Knowing where to look. A comet is hard to photograph if you don’t know where it is.
ISO rating. Bartlett suggested I set my ISO around 1,000 – 1,600.
Choose the right exposure. When photographing comets, your exposure should be short enough that the comet isn’t blurry, but the right setting depends on the speed of the comet and the focal length of the camera.
Where it all went wrong
Even in the darkness of totality, I wasn’t able to spot the “Devil comet” with my naked eye or my camera.
If I’d had a telescope or binoculars, I might have been able to use them to locate the comet on the horizon, and then direct my camera’s zoom lens toward it. But instead, I shot vaguely in the direction of where I thought the comet might be, and only captured darkness.
Plus, I was amazed by how quickly totality whizzed by. During this window, I was also trying to snap photos of the sun’s corona, which left me only about one minute to search for the comet and adjust my camera settings before the sun began to emerge from the moon’s shadow.
All in all, I learned that photographing a comet with a standard DSLR is tricky. Ideally, you should use a telescope with a sky tracking scope to help pinpoint its position and zoom in on its features.
And in general, I wouldn’t recommend trying to snap a picture of a comet during a total solar eclipse. The fleeting minutes of darkness afforded by totality make it challenging to locate the comet, adjust your settings, and frame the shot before the sun reappears.
