Comet C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS

[JeremyS]

Nick James, BAA Comer Section Director, draws attention to this  comet: https://britastro.org/node/26070

Still faint (13th mag) but worth keeping an eye on over the next months.

[Paul M]

Thanks Jeremy. I'm still in summer recess mode but it'll good to have something interesting to look out for when darkness returns.

They might not be beautiful but I do like tracking down and imaging faint comets!

Edit: My first instinct was  to find it in SkySafari; very nice path through Hercules and then I read it's bio in the linked article, a very interesting comet indeed! 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Paul M

[bob-c]

Hi Jeremy, i also find comets interesting and do like to image them .[even though there's not a lot of prettiness  in most of my images] i have imaged this comet on three separate nights , the first was on the evening of the 9th / 10th of April and then twice in June ,the 8th and 15th. Must admit they give me a buz when i find them. I will be keeping track and imaging it again towards the end of the month.

 

Bob.

[Paul M]

I got my first post solstice session last night and headed straight for this comet.

Conditions were very average. Moon mostly out of the way but the humid air gave for poor transparency and some skyglow.

37 x 30 sec subs with 250 PDS Newt and ASI178 Camera. Not spectacular but it's in the bag

[JeremyS]

Nice job @Paul M 👍🏻

[skybadger]

The asi178 is uncooled, how do you manage the amp glow ? Is that why you limit exposures to 30 seconds ?

[Paul M]

43 minutes ago, skybadger said:

The asi178 is uncooled, how do you manage the amp glow ? Is that why you limit exposures to 30 seconds ?

Dark frames remove the amp glow very well which is still a big issue at 30 sec. Even poorly matched dark work. Last night was very warm but the dark I used were from a much cooler night. Luckily DSS has a multiplier factor that can be applied to the master dark. In this case I had that set to 1.5

I've just got stuck in a rut with 30 sec exposures. Makes up for my otherwise poor workmanship of polar alignment and guiding

I'm planning on getting out again tonight and maybe experiment with some longer subs. But that camera gives a very small field which is very unforgiving and a 10in Newt on an EQ6 is asking for trouble!

[skybadger]

Thanks. I'll give that a go with some images I'm trying to get. 

 

[Paul M]

1 hour ago, skybadger said:

Thanks. I'll give that a go with some images I'm trying to get. 

 

Good look. I'm already set up. Just Waiting for full darkness and a band of high cloud that is hopefully clearing and I'll try some longer subs. The problem for me is taking the darks. So tiresome!

 

[Paul M]

I did get back to this comet overnight. The conditions were poor but I went for 120 sec subs to see if there is more to this comet than shows in the 30 sec stack.

Very underwhelming but I noticed that frames from both nights shared some stars so why not mosaic them to show the change in position over 24 hrs 

It's not pretty but it worked seamlessly in DSS. Processing was more challenging, different exposures, different conditions etc. Too many opposing gradients and no idea how to blend the overlaps. But this is a science forum not a beauty salon! 🤣

Anyway, two for the price of one!

Edited July 20, 2021 by Paul M