Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

I went out last night (15th) to quickly image comet C/2023 H2 Lemmon. After I got a shot I thought I would try comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. I have never seen a comet show up like this. Lemmon looks typically like several other comets I have shot, but 12P looks like a boated star. I thought I was just in the wrong place at first but no. From my locale the field is located in the west in a very light polluted sky as I am looking towards Midwest City and Tinker AFB. Spaceweather. com has told of outbursts with this comet and I thought I might be able to view the “horns” but instead I got this. First is Lemmon then Pons-Brook. The two field stars down to the left are about 7.5 mag. Both comets were shot at the same magnification.


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Very interesting. I also really like to image comets. What equipment were you using? Both comets are pretty faint. Not sure if I would be able image them with my setup.
Thanks…
Stan

I was using an Orion XX12g Truss Tube GoTo Dobsonian with a TeleVue 27mm Panoptic EP and an iPhone 13 Pro Max with NightCap app.

Here is some of the space weather article.



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Those are some really significant outbursts!

Clint,
Thanks for the information. I thought that might have been through an iPhone. I have tried that but with not much luck. Yours were very nice.
I went out last night and tried to image Comet Pons. I have a lot of trees so finding a good spot can sometimes be a challenge. I setup in what I thought was a good spot but the trees got me about half through my session. I went ahead and stacked them today. It is not very good but at least I was able to observe and image it. Need more frames and less moon light. But at least I got another comet under the belt.
My equipment used:
Canon 70D camera – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens
SkyWatcher GTi Mount – Apertura carbon Fiber Tripod – Apertura 155-Watt Power Supply
ASIAir Plus
Processed:
Astro Pixel Processor - 33 lights - 20 flats - 10 - Darks - 10 Bias
Photoshop

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Very nice! :grin:

Hard work finding a good spot, but you managed. I’m enjoying the view, thanks!

Got this image of 12P/Pons-Brooks this evening in College Station, TX.

15 minutes of 4 sec subs, autostacked on my Unistellar eVscope 2. Also captured a 20 min citizen science mission that was uploaded to SETI.

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I found it the last two nights too, it’s up pretty high in the Western sky. I just put a reducer on my OTA, so I didn’t feel like trying to image it. I looked just like Mitche’s photo with that fuzz ball around it.

Here is another try at 12p/Pons-Brooks. Setup last night in my front yard. (Feb 5, 2024) It is fairly low and in the constellation Cygnus. I was hoping to get about an hour of images before it was too low. I was only able to 40-60 second exposures. I was able to see the green color in the subs. It has brighten quite a bit from my previous attempt in November. I have imaged it several times since November but this is the one I decided to post.

My equipment used:
ZWO ASI2600MC pro camera cooled to -15 C
Skywatcher Esprit 80 ED Super APO f/5 on EQ6-R mount
Processed with Astro Pixel Processor - 40 light – 20 flats - 30 bias
Photoshop

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Heck yeah! Well done :+1::+1:

Really nice! I think I can see two separate tails, very faintly.

The comet was pretty low in the sky?

Just had to give 12P/Pons-Brooks another try. Went out last night March 10, 2024 around 8:30 PM DST in my front yard. It is pretty low in Andromeda. I knew I only had about an hour to image before it set. I had setup earlier in the day to save time. I started getting parts of the neighbor roof after about ½ hour, then it moved into clear again and I got a few more images before moving into another roof line.
All total I stacked 30 bias, 30 darks, 20 flats and 50 images of 45 second exposures 1600 iso 400mm f/5.6 with Astro Pixel Processor and finished the processing with Photoshop.

Equipment used:
Canon 70D camera – Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens
SkyWatcher Star Adventurer GTi Mount – Apertura carbon Fiber Tripod – Apertura 155-Watt Power Supply – ASIAir Plus

It has changed considerably from my Feb 5, 2024 attempt. It now shows a long tail. Was really tickled by how much it has changed.
With my 15x170 binoculars I could see the green color and a nice round coma, thought I could make out a faint tail.

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Stan,

Really nice, especially when you had to dodge multiple roof lines. :+1: :+1:

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Looks great, well done Stan!

Andy and Russ,
Thanks for the positive responses. I would have liked to have been able to attend the Messier Marathon at CRO. If I had attended, I definitely would have imaged 12P/Pons-Brooks there, to take advantage of the open horizon. I am sure I would have been able to take a better image. I live in an area that is hilly and tree covered so these near horizon comets are a struggle for me. My polar alignment was off as I was in a rush to get started imaging. It was fun to see how much it has changed in my several attempts to image it.
Thanks…
Stan

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 3/9/24
7:39pm - 9:12pm

Star Field:
15, 30-Second, Red
15, 30-Second, Green
15, 30-Second, Blue

Comet Core:
15, 1-minute, Lum
15, 1-minute, Red
15, 1-minute, Green
15, 1-minute, Blue

ASI2600mm Pro
Sky-Watcher Esprit ED
.79 reducer
446 focal length
EQ6r-Pro Mount
ASI Air Pro

Pixinsight and Photoshop

Location: Cheddar Ranch Observatory (CRO)
Publicly accessible dark sky site owned and operated by the Oklahoma City Astronomy Club.
okcastroclub.com/

Imgur

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Very good Andy, I wish I had your talent and skills.

Thanks…
Stan

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Thanks Stan!

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! :+1: