Shy but sunbathing Comet Atlas
Taken by Gilbert Plumer on January 17, 2025 @
Port Saint John, Florida
Click photo for larger image
| |
Camera Used: Unavailable Unavailable
Exposure Time: Unavailable
Aperture: Unavailable
ISO: Unavailable
Date Taken: Unavailable
|
|
| More images
Details:
A few days ago the comet passed perihelion inside the orbit of Mercury, and was roughly as bright as Venus, but the Sun's glare meant that you couldn't see it. Now it's mag 0.8 and dropping fast. From the Northern hemisphere perspective, it will stay near the Sun, so given our cloudiness recently and forecast in East Central Florida, today was about the last opportunity for us to see it. (The photo was taken with a Sony Alpha 7c thru a 200mm lens, 1/15" at ISO 1600, f/8. Single shot.) We saw it in 10x60 binocs, but it was hard to find.
Photographing the comet reminded me of Jeremy Perez's description. He photographed the comet from Flagstaff, AZ yesterday (when the comet was a magnitude brighter), and his photo is on today's (Jan. 17) Spaceweather.com's homepage:
"I can't emphasize enough how difficult it is to spot and then photograph the tiniest speck of a comet in bright twilight with gobs of altocumulus and virga all over the place..."
Photographer's website:
https://www.cloudynights.com/gallery/member/364636-space-captain/
|
|
|
