Comet Lemmon Tail Disruption

[Phil Hart]

Like Justin's post, there's a lot going on with Lemmon's tail at the moment.

Here's a severely stretched image from last night that looks terrible (even after flat fielding and background extraction) but shows impressive disruption to Comet Lemmon's tail. Hoping to do better tonight with more time before moonlight interferes. Will be interesting to see how much change there is in one night?

Saturday 2nd March ~10pm
20 * 30 secs, Canon 6D, Takahashi Epsilon 160 530mm f3.3.

cheers
Phil

[Astroman]

Think I might go out and try myself, Looks a terrific image Phil. terrific as in it shows the disruptions clearly... :)

[Peter Ward]

I'd really like to get some more imagery of this very-cool comet

and guess it's not raining in your neck of the woods ! :rain:


Nice record of twists in the tail :thumbsup:

[MrB]

That is awesome. Nice one Phil!

[Lester]

Excellent image Phil. Nice set-up too.

[anthony.tony]

So What could happen next could the tail break off- or splinter- Tony.

[multiweb]

Pretty cool. Looks like a puff in the stream. Maybe something got lose.

[gregbradley]

Interesting shot Phil. Its like a chunk broke off or its had a gaseous outburst.

How do you find the 6D so far?

Greg.

[Phil Hart]

Thanks all.. Marc, Lester, MrB & Astroman.



We're feeling for you folks up the coast. After months of hot weather, high cloud and smoke haze, we've had a few days in a row of the clearest skies in a long time. Perfect for comet hunting.. but no consolation for you right this moment!



I'm no expert on comets, but I understand that's effectively what happened.. you can see the lumps drifting back along the tail from when that happened. But a new tail keeps reforming.



Have just been using it in a hurry on a couple of nights.. haven't done any testing or comparisons so far. Performance looks great but the button layout for playback/zoom is annoying to use in the dark.

Phil

[anthony.tony]

Thanks for the Reply - The solar wind ripping and tearing away at it -Tony

[Matt Wastell]

Hi Phil
It may not be a perfect image (pretty good in my view) but it shows such detail of that tail - WOW!

[pdf]

Great photo of the tail on this comet and in particular the tail anomalies - not sure I am convinved by the explanations though

[multiweb]

This is fascinating. I didn't realise the dynamic nature of this. I understand the tail changes in size but I never thought its structure would change that radically in a short period of time. This is very cool. A snapshot of the event in time.

[MrB]

There's a challenge for someone... Image all night(well, 'till Lemmon is too low) and make an animation of the tails dynamics ;)

[Phil Hart]

The tail looks totally different tonight.. lovely fine structure close to the head but none of the lumpy disconnected bits from last night, at least on the back of the camera. more to process tomorrow..

[colinmlegg]

Phil, that explains why the tail was so dull that night compared to the night before. Pity, as it was the night I'd planned to shoot both comets in the same frame :(

[SkyViking]

Wow that fantastic Phil, a wonderful image of the tail detail. Lemmon has certainly been an interesting comet to follow. Thanks for the view.

[Ross G]

Hi Phil,

Fantastic photo.

Amazing detail in the tail.

Ross.