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Details:
Clouds that moved in rapidly from the south at sunset, combined with getting acquainted with new astrophotographic equipment to help simplify and automate my process under the stars, certainly did nothing to facilitate that process this night. Still, it was exciting to see the comet EAA-style ("electronically assisted astronomy": near-real time viewing of celestial objects using a sensitive astro-camera as a kind of electronic eyepiece). The comet was trucking right along, covering almost 1/2° inside 5 hours; the animation shows 1/2 hour of it once it was on the other side of the cluster.
The next notable event with the comet looks to be its appulse with the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) around Oct 3rd. With its brightness predicted to drop rapidly during September, though, a striking photo-op with the nebula looks unlikely.
#1: comet fixed, stars move
#2: comet fixed, stars fixed (same subs as #1 but stacked differently)
#3: comet movement over ~1/2 hour
Photo data:
#1, #2: Panasonic G9, Askar FRA 600, iOptron GEM45G
... 105 x (f/5.6, 60 sec, ISO 1600) = 1h 45m
... N up, W clockwise; FOV = 1.5° x 1°
... stacked in DeepSkyStacker in comet mode, processed in Paint Shop Pro (PSP)
... date: Aug 11-12, 2023 10pm-12:30am MDT (= Aug 12, 2023 04:00-06:30 UT)
#3: ASI174MM-Mini, ditto, ditto (note: monochrome camera)
... 5 frames x (f/5.6, 3 min, n/a) at random times over ~1/2 hour
... N at position-angle 250°, W counterclockwise (i.e. mirror-image); FOV = 65' x 41'
... animated in SSuiteGIFAnimator3, processed in PSP
... date: Aug 11-12, 2023 ~2-3am MDT (= Aug 12, 2023 ~08:00-09:00 UT)
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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