Comet 45P more diffuse than I thought!

[Vega]

Well, In hindsight, I would not have set my alarm at 5am for this result. Granted, the sky is beautiful at this time in the morning but Comet 45p was a disappointment and my warm bed made it very hard to get up so early on a work day. It's supposed to be around magnitude 8 but it's obviously quite diffuse. Using EQMod and StellariumScope, I forgot to update Stellarium's TLE data for the comet so half an hour was wasted continuously adjusting positions, taking images and scratching head [Repeat]. Given time restraints before nautical dawn kicked in, this is just 2x 90sec exposures.  No darks or bias. Hoping things improve before closest approach.

[Pete Presland]

A fine looking image, I think that would be quite a hard spot in a small scope.

[Debo]

It's tail seems to have disappeared according to http://spaceweather.com/ , which is a shame.

[andrew63]

That's a good looking image in a rich field -   a nice open cluster bottom left also ?

 

andrew

[Stub Mandrel]

Surely the reward is in actually catching such a slippery customer?

[Dave In Vermont]

SpaceWeather.com has the most on this comet losing it's tail - perhaps:

Taken by Bill Williams on February 7, 2017 @ Chiefland Astronomy Village, Florida

Dave

[Vega]

Well ok Bill's image absolutely blows mine out of the water. What an image! Thanks for the comparison Dave.... I think lol

22 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Surely the reward is in actually catching such a slippery customer?

Agreed Stub, sometimes when you've been doing this hobby for long enough you lose sight of the achievements. I think my disappointment stems from easily hunting down comets of a much fainter magnitude in the past. My expectations were leaning towards a pretty picture rather than an object hunting excercise. I'm rarely a morning  astronomer ?.Looking forward to well placed 41P in the spring

[Daniel-K]

really like this. did you know about the star cluster when getting the image? 

[Vega]

I was aware that the comet was just on the edge of the Ophiuchus star field but wasn't aware of that particular cluster. A nice bonus ?

[Davey-T]

If we get some clear sky we should be able to catch two comets in the same area.

Dave

 

[andrew63]

great way to bow out !

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/

andrew

[orion25]

On 2/7/2017 at 15:33, bunnygod1 said:

A fine looking image, I think that would be quite a hard spot in a small scope.

You're not kidding, Pete. I lost a few mornings' sleep chasing the little green smudge to no avail. It's nice to see some images. Nice work, Vega! 

 

Reggie

[sharkmelley]

A good result on a very dim comet!

Mark