Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)

[PepeChambo]

Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS imaged on 2020 February 23, is my first image of this comet when still had a brightness at magnitude 13.5 and a coma with near 1 arcminute angular size , also be seen a tail projection toward southwest.

Data and link to image:
https://cometografia.es/2019y4-atlas-20200223/

[Davey-T]

Oo that's tiny, hoping to have a go at imaging it soon, bit cloudy tonight.

Dave

[Wiu-Wiu]

I managed to get my gear out last night and this comet was on the top of my list. 

C11 Edge on CEM 60, asi 071mc pro

30x60s

30x120s

[Pete Presland]

Nicely captured Jose, not easy at that magnitude.

[Pete Presland]

The tail is showing very nicely there @Wiu-Wiu

[PepeChambo]

My second image of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) taken on 2020 March 4, this time remotely from Teide Observatory and 9 days after was already increased brightness from magnitude 13.5 to 11 and its coma from 1 to 4 arcminutes in angular size. Tail is also more apparent and extends 1.5 arcmniutes inside coma toward south.

Post and image link:
https://cometografia.es/2020y4-atlas-20200304/

[tooth_dr]

Nice presentation. I imaged this comet a couple of nights ago, seems to have a longer tail now.

Edited March 23, 2020 by tooth_dr

[JamesF]

How long was the total integration for that image, @tooth_dr?

I was imaging it last night and it seems to be moving really quite quickly compared to the background stars.

James

[mcrowle]

Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS from last night. (46 x 1-minute exposures at ISO 6400 with an EOS 600D and 12" f/4 Newtonian).

Regards, Mike.

[tooth_dr]

9 hours ago, JamesF said:

How long was the total integration for that image, @tooth_dr?

I was imaging it last night and it seems to be moving really quite quickly compared to the background stars.

James

300s James 

[JamesF]

It's certainly not hanging around, is it?

James

[theropod]

PepeChambo,

Looks like you caught a small meteor too. Excellent work! It’s been cloudy and or raining for 18 days, and nights, straight here in north central Arkansas, and it’s expected to go on like this for at least 8 more days. Maybe a sucker hole will open up and I can at least get a glimpse of both this one and PanStars before the show is over. Maybe...

[JamesF]

Ok, so it looks like the ASI224MC is a non-starter.  It's so noisy that the plate solver doesn't work

Need another plan.

James

[Davey-T]

Star hopped to it via Dubhe, Alhaud and the Althiba trio using Star Adventurer, DSLR and Redcat but too much slow moving cloud for a decent image, left it running but not looking hopeful which is a pity as the sky looks pretty good in the clear patches.

Dave

[Wiu-Wiu]

Last night, march 24, with Esprit 120 - 55x60s

[tooth_dr]

4 minutes ago, Wiu-Wiu said:

Last night, march 24, with Esprit 120 - 55x60s

Very nice. How did you process it?

[Wiu-Wiu]

thanks!

I process comets in Pixinsight

Batch preprocessing with darks and flats, cometalignment, image integration, auto histogram, histogram transformation, curves. Just eyeballling, really.

[Wiu-Wiu]

Made a little animation of its motion too. 

[tooth_dr]

I was thinking of guiding on the comet when it’s clear again and trying to get a decent image. I’ve guided on a comet before but the resulting image wasn’t great. Is it pointless?

[JamesF]

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

I was thinking of guiding on the comet when it’s clear again and trying to get a decent image. I’ve guided on a comet before but the resulting image wasn’t great. Is it pointless?

I was reading up on how to do this with PHD last night.  Apparently it handles the guiding by having you choose a star close to the comet to guide on, then entering the speed of the comet in the RA and DEC directions.  PHD then arranges for the guide star to drift at the same speed in the opposite direction, thereby keeping the comet in the same position.

I've never tried it though, and at the moment I don't have a working guide system on the rig in question so I'm not sure I can for the time being.

James

[Davey-T]

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

I was thinking of guiding on the comet when it’s clear again and trying to get a decent image. I’ve guided on a comet before but the resulting image wasn’t great. Is it pointless?

I have guided on brighter comets but don't think this one will work, it just about shows up on my PHD screen.

I guess that theoretically you can enter the TLEs in the handset and follow its orbit, I've done this with the ISS and had to do it for the Sun on the Meade LX200 as they omitted it for H&S reasons.

Dave

[cuivenion]

18 hours ago, JamesF said:

Ok, so it looks like the ASI224MC is a non-starter.  It's so noisy that the plate solver doesn't work

Need another plan.

James

I platesolve with the ASI224 all the time using Sharpcap/Allskyplatesolver, are you using dark frames?

[JamesF]

I was, but the frame was still exceptionally noisy.  Possibly things aren't helped by having such a small field of view, either.

I don't think I'm going to be able to get this sorted until the weekend when I have a bit more time to play, but I have an alternative for tonight.

James

[cuivenion]

Fair enough, clear skies.

[Davey-T]

Single frame from last night through a bit of thin cloud.

Dave

Sky Watcher SA, 60Da, Redcat.