C2011 L4 PanSTARRS - Nucleus Of A Comet

[mikeyscope]

Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS from Lindean near Selkirk on Saturday 20th April.

As Comet PanSTARRS slowly fades it is now possible to get more detail within nucleus as in this image tracking on the comet itself.

Had the telescope been guiding on the stars at sidereal rate as usual then the stars would be round but the comet would leave a trail the same length as any star trails in this image, so in this 25min exposure the comet has moved the apparent length of the star trails.

5" Takahashi Refractor (guiding on comet nucleus)

Canon 60Da

iso 800

x5 300sec exposure with extender.

No Flat Frames

No Dark Frames

(Quick & Dirty)

C2011 L4 PanSTARRS - Nucleus Of A Comet by mikeyscope, on Flickr

[sologuitarist61]

Excellent - like thew star trails!

[davew]

Another beauty there Mike. Great guiding.

It's amazing how much more star colour shows with trails rather than a straight stack. Some of them are wild and trails prove that they're not errant pixels !

Nice,

Dave.

[Paul M]

Another beauty there Mike. Great guiding.

It's amazing how much more star colour shows with trails rather than a straight stack. Some of them are wild and trails prove that they're not errant pixels !

Nice,

Dave.

Yeah, never mind the pesky comet. Look at those star trails! Marvellous colours!

Look at that red one halfway between the comet's nucleus and the top of the frame. How red?

[Pete Presland]

marvelous how you post a image a comet and everybody loves the star trails they are great though! very nice comet as well, it has faded a lot in the last couple of weeks

[mikeyscope]

Yes ...damn that comet ...really ruined a good star trail image.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Mike