Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

Astrophotography
21

Andy,

Very nice capture despite some idiot (me) polluting the sky with a laser pointer while you were imaging. :blush:

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22

I notice that you were able to capture so much of the tail that it continues beyond the edge of the frame. That must have been a surprise.

Is there one specific filter that was most effective to bring out the tail?

23

Tail detail: Locking onto the comet core, tracking it at its separate speed from the starfield, doing the 1-minute subs, then stacking the core data is the real ā€œmagic trickā€ for the tail details.

No one will ever get perfect details without tracking the cometā€™s core. All the other images you see of any comet that looks like a ā€œfuzzballā€ are just a stack of people taking subs at sidereal rate.

Filters: The luminance filter with a monochrome camera is always the ā€œdetail kingā€. BUT you can only use a LUM filter from a dark sky location, not in the city, no way Jose.

Also, my camera rotation was locked into place because I was working on a mosaic that night. So, if I had rotated my camera, I could have fit more tail in frame.

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24

It looks like this comet is currently naked eye visible in a dark sky. It will be even brighter when the eclipse happens so would be a good object to look at that weekend just after Sunset.

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25

With it this close to the horizon, the photos which frame it against against something (interesting) in the foreground may be very cool.

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26

Yep, I agree. If I had time, I would zip out to a Bortle-1 and do a nightscape with it.

27

Iā€™ll try and remember to get a nightscape of it in Texas (weather permitting").

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28

I saw your Flickr post today. Awfully pretty picture. I really like the color you captured. Hurray for CRO.

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29

Thank you Marvin :+1::+1:

30

See the explosive ā€˜devil cometā€™ get its tail ripped off by a solar storm days before its close approach to the sun.

A surprise coronal mass ejection recently smashed into Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, briefly causing the ā€œdevil cometā€ to lose its tail ā€” and a NASA spacecraft caught the whole thing on camera.

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31

That is crazy, the size of the solar ejection!

32

It seems so calm to us, but the universe is really a VERY violent placeā€¦

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