M81 + M82 + Comet PANSTARRS Looking Good

[John]

If you don't want to wait up until the early hours for comet C/2020 F8 SWAN, Comet C/2020 T2 PANSTARRS is nicely positioned in Ursa Major tonight forming a triangle with the galaxies M81 and M82 in a low power, wide angle eyepiece. PANSTARRS is currently billed as magnitude 9.1 which seems to match it's relative brightness compared with the two galaxies.

The Ethos 21 in the Vixen ED 102 doing the business this evening after those lovely Moon - Venus - Mercury views earlier

 

[Knighty2112]

Nice one John. May have a look for it in the next hour or so. 

[Davey-T]

Just debating whether to set up and have a look, quite a bit of cloud earlier but seems a bit clearer now.

Dave

[John]

Still very clear here but I'm a bit tired tonight so I've packed in.

Finished by comparing the Cats Eye Nebula and the Blinking Planetary Nebula. The latter was still not really blinking despite using 30% of the aperture that I did last time - I could see the nebulosity surrounding the central star more or less all the time. Perhaps it's darker than I thought out there !

 

 

[Davey-T]

Just imaging T2, skies not too bad, comet quite bright and guiding is behaving.

Dave

[Pixies]

Saw the comet in an 8" dob. Just a smudge, but definitely there.

[Knighty2112]

Saw the comet, but very faint. Had to wobble the scope to clearly see something was there. M82 was much easier to spot, along with M81 of course too. Also nabbed M51 afterwards too, which showed well. Certainly darker skies would have brought the comet out more, but nice to see none the less.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Nice one those who managed it.

I had a good go tonight with 6" newt. Starting at midnight M81/M82 were found, faint but obvious. I should have given up after thirty minutes, but 1.5 hours later decided game over.

Beaten by Bortle 8 light pollution and neighbour's two doors away laser beam quad LEDs switching on every few minutes.

 

[Craney]

Thanks for this heads-up.

I was just about to wrap up my OSC imaging last night when I read your post.

A quick slew and a few frames blatted off......

Rough and ready stitch...  

  

I'm working on the 'tweaked' version

Sean.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Craney

[John]

Look forward to seeing that Sean

[Craney]

8 hours ago, John said:

Look forward to seeing that Sean

Well.....  not so straightforward as I thought.  My 'go-to' software could not align the images.....which is strange as I had a pretty good go just with my mark 1 eyeball.

Once I found a way, those frame lines are blended out initially but start to re-appear when you begin to stretch and process the image.

I'm sure Photoshop has a special module for this sort of thing, but it's hiding in the layers of menus somewhere.   Anyway, work in progress as they say.

 

Sean.

[petevasey]

Hi, Sean,

Yes, you've got to grab the opportunity when you can!  I've had a quick go at your image with this result - hope it helps.

Cheers,

Peter

Edited May 26, 2020 by petevasey

[John]

Both those are far, far better than I could produce - thanks for posting them

[Craney]

1 hour ago, petevasey said:

Hi, Sean,

Yes, you've got to grab the opportunity when you can!  I've had a quick go at your image with this result - hope it helps.

Cheers,

Peter

Thanks Peter.   You brought out the tail a lot more, even given it a bit of structure.

You can see the frame edge beginning to appear...  Also Gradient Exterminator created a 'sink-hole'  contour map just below middle centre, which also appears

when you try to brighten the  faint fuzzyness.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Cracked it!

Due to earlier cloud the telescopes stayed packed up this evening, but unable to sleep I crept out at 0215 with Olympus DPS-I 10x50s. Clear skies and excellent seeing. Barely a twinkle.

Fleece on, laid back on a sun lounger orientated north west in my dark corner and the binos resting on my eye sockets. 

After a scan around the sky I thought I'd try for the comet, not expecting anything. I aimed straight at Dubhe, panned across to M81... Hold it(!) that's not M81 and M82. They're those smaller fuzzies just to the right! I'd only landed straight on the comet. A faint blob the size of both Bode's galaxies pushed together with a hint of diffuse fuzzy elongation. 

First comet ever, and a first view of Bode's through binoculars within 5 minutes or so!

40 minutes later, a combination of cold feet due to a lack of socks and a brightening sky brought me in. I will sleep with a contented grin on for what's left of the night!

Edited May 27, 2020 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Pixies]

The sky  is getting so light in Edinburgh now, it's hard to make out M81 and M82 with my 8" dob, but I could just find them tonight.

Had a quick sneaky peek at PANSTARRS, using SkySafari to confirm where it was. I could see nothing at first, but settled down to wait. The sky is so light, it's not really worth getting one's eyes adjusted. Even with the moon long gone.

Eventually I reckon I could just make it out with averted vision and a bit of judicious wobbling.