Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS(T)

[OzEclipse]

This morning at 5:00am local time (20240919.795UT) I observed comet Tsuchinshan with 15x70mm binoculars and photographed it from 5:06-5:08am.
Astronomical Twilight broke at 4:30am 35 minutes before the exposures.

The first image below is camera on fixed tripod, no tracking, ISO 3200 33 x 1s exposures 135mm f2. The 33 exposures were stacked.

For those of you not into stacking, the second photo is a single 1s exposure, ISO 3200, 135mm f2 lens with Adobe AI noise reduction applied.

The current brightening models have a range of increase between 10x brighter to 100X brighter over the next 10 days.

In the binoculars, the comet was sporting a roughly 1/2 deg tail.

Game on!:D:D

cheers
Joe Cali (OzEclipse)

[AstroViking]

Nice one, Joe!

[foc]

Nice work Joe! You don't happen to have a job as a night watchman? First images of Auroras at one end of the night and now this nice Comet shot at the other end with asteroids in between. Thanks for the tip off on the brightening light curve model. I am not normally an early riser but I will see if I have any good options when the winds die down here.

[Leo.G]

Lovely capture Joe!

[Dave882]

Great work Joe. Will be interesting to see what happens over the next week or 2!

[OzEclipse]

I worked in a Research School at ANU for many decades. Retired early in 2020 so, yes, you could say that I now have a job as a "night watchman." Guardian of the Galaxy! :rofl:

The only work I do now is teaching beginner nightscape astrophotography workshops to photographers who want to try some fixed tripod astrophotography through Photoaccess Art Centre in Canberra and some minor consulting to my old workplace. Next year, I'm teaching the workshops in association with the Canberra Museum and Gallery as outreach for the Mt Stromlo Centenary Exhibition. Beyond being awake for those classes, pretty much, I can sleep all day and wake all night if I want. So much easier than when I was working. I have found that the Latino siesta model works well, splitting my sleep between a short nights' sleep and another short sleep in the early afternoon.

I also do some body clock shifting. I had friends out from Canberra for an observing weekend just after last new moon. Then there was the aurora on the 12th. Since then, I've spent the week shifting my body clock, mostly going to bed early and waking very early, so that waking for this run of early mornings isn't too much of a strain on the body.

There's a bit of cloudy weather coming. Looks like I'll only get about 3-4 clear mornings out of the next 7 days. :mad2: But the clear nights alternate with cloudy so I'll get some sleep on alternate nights.




Thanks Leo!




Thanks Steve!

[astronobob]

Good stuff Joe, great to see it still intact, interesting week ahead and would not it be nice if it fills a 135mm frame at its peak, ooh yet a short scopes view of its tail could be exciting,,,
I feel some Comet Porn coming on,,,:D

[Peter Ward]

Nice intro to this new visitor :thumbsup:

After 30 years of flying through the night with a sunrise heralding it was time to land & knock off....I do detest those early morning starts...but it looks like this one will be worth the effort ;)

[OzEclipse]

Got up this morning to try with a scope. 90% of the sky was clear. Guess where the 10% of cloud cover was sitting. Yes it just sat over the comet until twilight was too bright then it moved.

Cloudy tomorrow morning. Completely clear Monday morning.

Joe