46p Wirtanen 10-12-2018

[Stefan Buda]

I had a good go at it with my baby Honders.
95x120sec/QHY8
Average stack in DSS
About 1deg crop at 100%

If I push the image, the coma extends to about 1 degree, but there is no hint of a tail. I think that it must be close to opposition and the ion tail is pointing away from us.

[multiweb]

Very cool. You can sort of make up the general direction of the plume with the color variation. :thumbsup:

[ChrisV]

That looks way cool
All you comet chasers are making me want to have a go.
But my last planetary attempt was a disaster

[Peter Ward]

Wow! Very nice capture indeed.

[strongmanmike]

Lovely looking shot Stefan

Mike

[Regulus]

Very nicely done Stefan.

[Stefan Buda]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.
This comet will not come anywhere near as close as this so I made an effort to image it, although my plan was to make a long set of exposures on the following night when it was approaching the Clarke belt, and turn it into a time lapse. The weather forecast didn't work out, so I went up (to Heathcote) a day earlier.
The OTA was able to hold focus for the 4hrs that it took to acquire the images, even though the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees during that time. I'm very happy with that.

[Atmos]

Really nice Stefan! That baby Honders is a great performer :thumbsup:

[John K]

Nice going Stefan,

That's a great closeup of this comet!

John K.