Comet 62P (Tsuchinshan)

[CentaurZ]

Periodic Comet 62P (Tsuchinshan) is currently at magnitude +13.9. It has an orbital period of 6.18 years and will reach perihelion of 1.2649 AU on 2023 DEC 25. Based on JPL parameters, it is expected to peak at magnitude +13.6 on 2024 JAN 03.

The comet will pass 0.5935 AU from Earth on 2024 JAN 30. It was discovered in 1965 by a team of Chinese astronomers.

Photos and descriptions of the comet would be welcome additions to this thread.

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by CentaurZ

[mcrowle]

I tried to see 62P last time round, 6 years ago, but only managed to capture it photographically. Try as I might, using my exposures as reference, averted vision, etc, I couldn’t make out its faint smudge visually in my 12” Newtonian. Anyway, that was post-perihelion, and the comet was already fading.

It was a very different experience this time round, with the comet easy to locate and view in the Sickle of Leo. It’s much brighter than last time (estimated at mag 9 according to the BAA page) though it’s very diffuse.

I will share a photo, taken on the morning of 8 December, though it’s not great 😊 - I had to crop it very heavily due to some horrendous gradient issues. This is the result of 20 x 1-min, tracked but unguided exposures taken with the f/4 Newtonian and Canon EOS 600D, stacked in DeepSkyStacker.

Regards, Mike.

Edited December 10, 2023 by mcrowle
Corrected the date the image was taken

[mcrowle]

8 minutes ago, mcrowle said:

…though it’s not great 😊 

Hmm, now I’ve seen the photo there on-line, perhaps even that was too kind!

[Voxish]

On 10/12/2023 at 01:59, mcrowle said:

Hmm, now I’ve seen the photo there on-line, perhaps even that was too kind!

It’s not that bad, we’ve all seen worse 

[mcrowle]

Thanks! Think I was just exasperated after spending a while trying to reduce the gradients 😄.

Regards, Mike.

[orion25]

Not bad at all, Mike. You got the green glow and evidence of the tail!

Reggie

[Pete Presland]

Looks a very respectable end result to me @mcrowle Comets are pretty tricky targets in my experience to capture and process.

[Geoff Lister]

And more recently; direct from my Seestar S50

 

and 2 days later with the "Mark" function showing main surrounding features

Geoff

[Geoff Lister]

And more recently:-

62P is about magnitude 11 and IC 3602 is magnitude 15.5.

Geoff

[scotty1]

Does the Seestar need to be near a mobile signal?  If your out in rural areas sometimes the signal drops off. 

Edited March 7 by scotty1

[Geoff Lister]

As far as I know, the Seestar does not need a mobile signal. Some of the weather and "best targets tonight" parts of the Android or IOS app on the tablet/phone require data access to the internet for updating, but I am not aware of a "SIM" equivalent to communicate with a mobile phone base station.

Geoff

[scotty1]

7 hours ago, Geoff Lister said:

As far as I know, the Seestar does not need a mobile signal. Some of the weather and "best targets tonight" parts of the Android or IOS app on the tablet/phone require data access to the internet for updating, but I am not aware of a "SIM" equivalent to communicate with a mobile phone base station.

Geoff

Thanks , 

I'm guessing there is WiFi on the Seestar that connects to your phone, if you have signal.

 

Edited March 8 by scotty1

[Geoff Lister]

20 hours ago, scotty1 said:

I'm guessing there is WiFi on the Seestar that connects to your phone, if you have signal.

Yes. The first connection is via Bluetooth. This then turns on a WiFi transmission from the Seestar. This can then be received by your phone/tablet. Your phone/tablet may either, lock automatically to the Seestar, or, need to go via "settings" to switch from your home WiFi. There is an option to use your home WiFi for the Seestar link, but I have not tried it.

Geoff