Comet 45P / Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

45P for 18 December 2016 UT.
Brightening rapidly, coma diam = 3.3 arc minutes, tail length 11.9 arc minutes.
Worth getting out for a look, it's around mag 8 and brightening. For us southerners the next ten days are best.
It's low in the western sky in capricornus.

Cheers,

Justin.

[tel.lekatsas (Tel)]

Hi Justin,

Colour and tail looking good. Weather prospects in QLD are pretty grim for this week. Nothing but cloud outside at the moment. I hope you get some clear skies as it brightens and the tail grows. Looking forward to more images before perihelion.

Tel

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Nice one Justin!

Looks like I'll miss this one completely though. Too low in the west for me.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by cometcatcher

Nice one Justin!

Looks like I'll miss this one completely though. Too low in the west for me.

Thanks Kevin!

Pity it's in the wrong spot for you, would have been good to have your images.

Originally Posted by tel.lekatsas

Hi Justin,

Colour and tail looking good. Weather prospects in QLD are pretty grim for this week. Nothing but cloud outside at the moment. I hope you get some clear skies as it brightens and the tail grows. Looking forward to more images before perihelion.

Tel

Thanks Tel!

Hope you get some breaks in the weather.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Nice one Justin

Not good comet weather over here in QLD at the moment

[Tony_ (Tony)]

Good one Justin - and only 10 minutes.

I have tall conifers on the western side of my backyard - take up about 70 degrees of sky.

Tony.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Nice one Justin

Not good comet weather over here in QLD at the moment

Originally Posted by Tony_

Good one Justin - and only 10 minutes.

I have tall conifers on the western side of my backyard - take up about 70 degrees of sky.

Tony.

Thanks Dunk and Tony!

Here's the latest image. Visually mag 8.2
45p for 20 December 2016 UT.
Tail has brightened and lengthened, 28 arc minutes.

Cheers,

Justin.

[tel.lekatsas (Tel)]

Hi Justin,

That's a dramatic increase in tail length over just a few days. Should be an interesting next couple of days for image starved comet junkies. We've just had a storm here and the skies to the west are mean and grey as another storm rolls in. Hope it keeps heading north and I get a peek with the binos as it darkens. Praying for a clear night before perihelion to get the ED120 out imaging.

Great shot, looking forward to more images.

Tel

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by tel.lekatsas

Hi Justin,

That's a dramatic increase in tail length over just a few days. Should be an interesting next couple of days for image starved comet junkies. We've just had a storm here and the skies to the west are mean and grey as another storm rolls in. Hope it keeps heading north and I get a peek with the binos as it darkens. Praying for a clear night before perihelion to get the ED120 out imaging.

Great shot, looking forward to more images.

Tel

Thanks Tel!

here's the latest.
It's really getting up some steam now.

Comet 45P for 21 December 2016 UT.
Possibel tail disruption?
I managed 20 minutes of reasonable images of 45P. 10 minutes of ISO 3200. ( Main annonated image) and 10 minutes of ISO 6400 which I combined and stacked on comet.
It's really coming alive, tail measures 54 arc minutes and showing disruption and possible disconnection.
Really please with the result cosidering the low altitudes between12 and 6 degrees.

Cheers,

Justin.

[REVEREND (Raymond)]

Hi Justin. Some great pics there. I don't know where Penwortham is, but I am presuming its in Oz. Do you know if its visible from the south west of WA.? Is so any idea when and where would be the best time to see it ?
Thanks.
Cheers Reverend.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by REVEREND

Hi Justin. Some great pics there. I don't know where Penwortham is, but I am presuming its in Oz. Do you know if its visible from the south west of WA.? Is so any idea when and where would be the best time to see it ?
Thanks.
Cheers Reverend.

Hi Raymond and thanks!

45P is low in the west, only about 10 degrees above the horizon it's around mag 8.

Here's a chart.

Cheers,

Justin.

[REVEREND (Raymond)]

Thanks Justin. I will head to coast tomorrow evening and see if I can get a pic.
Cheers Reverend.
PS. What is the best time to try ?

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by REVEREND

Thanks Justin. I will head to coast tomorrow evening and see if I can get a pic.
Cheers Reverend.
PS. What is the best time to try ?

Hi Raymond,

You will need to start around 20 minutes before the end of astronomical twighlight your time. For me thats 21:50 pm DST. This should give you enough time to centre and take test shots.


Cheers,

Justin.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

45P for 22 December 2016 UT.

[REVEREND (Raymond)]

Thanks Justin. I will have a go tonight.

Cheers Reverend.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Originally Posted by REVEREND

Thanks Justin. I will have a go tonight.

Cheers Reverend.

Thanks Raymod!

Hape you get a chance.

Here's the latest image.
45P for 23 December 2016 UT.
Tail measures 1.3 degrees in the image, probably more.

Cheers,

Justin.

[REVEREND (Raymond)]

I went and had a look at 9pm, and couldn't spot it. I then got home and looked up your map, and I wasn't looking in the right spot.. As you can probably gather, I am pretty new to this space photography.
Cheers Reverend.
PS. Another nice pic Justin.