2007 Oct - Nov - R. Stankiewicz - Comet 17P_Holmes-labelled

Speaking of Comet Holmes and  visual reminder of things passed.

These images were taken from my front yard with a little Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera and
Sigma 70-300mm lense @ 215mm, tracking on top (piggy-back) of my ETX telescope.

Settings were ISO 1600; f/5; 30 sec. exp.

Now this was a naked eye comet!

Taken by: Rick Stankiewicz
Date : 2007 Oct - Nov

Just wanted to share my best image of this early a.m. (3:00) of Comet 46/P closest approach
in 70 years and today set history as this comet joined the ranks of only 9 other comets to come
this close to Earth (today's was about 11 million km). The clouds were a challenge today, but
patience paid off.

It is naked eye now, but still need half decent skies.

2020-Apr 12 - B. Hardy - Comet 2019 Y4 Atlas Demise

It looks like C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) is indeed fragmenting and dimming in the process.  I have included
two images of the comet taken 6 days apart (April 5 & April 11).  Both images are 7 second exposures
with all setting the same.  The most recent image is clearly of a lower magnitude with a much
extended nucleus than the earlier image.  In addition, the April 11th image was taken without the
Moon interfering, while the earlier, brighter image, was taken with an 87% illuminated Moon high in
the sky.  On a positive note, the extension of the tail seems much longer in last night's shot.

Anything can happen, but it appears that the nucleus of C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) is breaking up and
unlikely to brighten further.  The likelihood of it surviving its encounter with the Sun at 0.3 AU
(45 million km) in late May is unlikely.  Very disheartening.

Taken by : Brett Hardy
Date : 2020-Apr 12

Comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS

In keeping with the social distancing philosophy I have set up in the end of my driveway. It only
has a really clear view
to the north so normally that would not be very encouraging but with comets C/2019 Y4 and C/2017 T2
cosying up to
Polaris I was very well placed. These two photos were single exposures (30secs. & 15secs.) taken at
the prime focus
of the LX90 using the Sony a6000 with an f/6.3 focal reducer, FOV approx. 64'x42', then cropped to
about 30'x30'.
The stars are down to Mag. 16 or maybe a bit more, my star chart only goes to 16.5.

Taken by : Sean Dunne
Date : 2020 - Apr 15

Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas

In keeping with the social distancing philosophy I have set up in the end of my driveway. It only
has a really clear view to the north so normally that would not be very encouraging but with comets
C/2019 Y4 and C/2017 T2 cosying up to Polaris I was very well placed. These two photos were single
exposures (30secs. & 15secs.) taken at the prime focus of the LX90 using the Sony a6000 with an
f/6.3 focal reducer, FOV approx. 64'x42', then cropped to about 30'x30'. The stars are down to Mag.
16 or maybe a bit more, my star chart only goes to 16.5.

Taken by : Sean Dunne
Date : 2020 - Apr 15

2020-Apr 6 - B. Hardy - Comet 2019 Y4 Atlas image annotated

Despite the Moon at mag. -11.8 and 94% illumination,I spent some time on comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas). 
The comet has brightened since last I looked, now at magnitude 7.5  It is located in the
constellation Camelopardalis and is circumpolar.  Located 1.03 A.U. (153.9 million km) from Earth
with a 110,000 km coma and obvious tail.  It is a fast mover at 1.61 arcseconds/minute.

I have included two images.  The first image is annotated with the magnitude of an interesting
grouping of stars. Both images are 7 second exposures of 40 stacked images, representing 2 minutes
40 seconds total integration.  Zoom in and notice the dim star close to the nucleus within the tail.
Compare the location of this star with the next image to see the motion over a span of just 12
minutes.  Orbital dynamics in action!

Further brightening should continue as it approaches the Sun.  Perihelion (closest approach to the
Sun) occurs on May 30th.  Predictions place it at 0 magnitude at its brightest.  It has a long way
to go to reach that brilliance, but what a sight it will be if it does.  I am looking forward to
when the Moon gets out of the way in a week or so,


Taken by : Brett Hardy
Date : 2020-Apr 6

2020-Apr 8 - M. McCarthy - Comet C_2019_Y4 Motion

This is an animated Gif of the comet C/2019 Y4 on March 27 2020 from the North end of Peterborough
(1km from Walmart and Canadian Tire) . Camera is a Mallincam Extreme and Idas D2 filter. Scope is a
C14 on a G11 mount. No offset tracking of the comet just sidereal rate.  Its 200 x 30 sec images 
made into
a gif using GIMP.  Local time was from 9:53pm to 11:37pm. It was nice and clear temps approaching 2C
and humidity 93%.

Object name: C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)
Equatorial: RA: 08h 25m 00s   Dec: +68°27'15"(current)
Equatorial 2000: RA: 08h 23m 03s   Dec: +68°30'57"
Horizon: Azim: 336°24'32"   Alt: +60°43'23"
Transit time: 21:15  Always above horizon.
Object type: Comet
Sun distance (au): 1.54
Hour angle: 02h 08m 49s
Air mass: 1.15
RA rate (arcsecs/sec): -0.0779
Dec rate (arcsecs/sec): 0.0021
Comet perihelion month: 5
Comet perihelion day: 31.0443
Comet perihelion year: 2020
Comet eccentricity: 0.9992
Comet perihelion distance: 0.2530
Comet inclination: 45.3906
Heliocentric: l: 02°43'06"b: 00°31'43"r: 1.5444
Heliocentric longitude: 02°43'06"
Heliocentric latitude: 00°31'43"
Sidereal time: 10:34

Taken by : Mike McCarthy
Date : 2020-Apr 8

2020-August 6 - S. Dunne - C2020 F3 NEOWISE and Messier 53

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE has been past the Sun and
obviously survived very well (most comets don't) and is now
heading for the nether regions of the solar system and may
possibly return in 6700 years or so to greet whoever if any
inhabit planet Earth then.

Last night it was scheduled to pass close by the global cluster
M53. From one of my favourite observing spots near the
Nexicom tower on County Road 18 I captured the attached
photo using the Sony a6000 at the prime focus of the Meade
LX90 with an f/6.3 focal reducer. There was not much room to
spare in the field of view but it is nice when your calculations
work out.

Essentially I was using the a6000 with a 1260mm  f/6.3 lens.
This is a single 10 second exposure. The tail which is a result
of the light/heat of the Sun and the solar wind is no longer
evident as the Comet recedes.

Taken by : Sean Dunne

2020-July 13 - D. Shilling - Comet NEOWISE

Taken by : Dixie Shilling
Date : July 13, 2020

2020-July 15 - B. Colville - NEOWISE-Wide

I finally got a chance to take a few quick images of the comet last night,
though I did catch a visual glimpse on Tuesday night.  Clouds rolled in
soon after I went out on Tuesday, but last night they held off for a little longer.

I quickly got these pics on the stationary tripod, with exposure a bit long
for the focal length which caused a bit of drift.  I think if it were up another
10 or 20 degrees in elevation it would look 10x more impressive!  The
wider image was with the lens set at 25mm and the zoomed in was at
40mm or so.  Both with my Canon 60D, and 20 sec exposures for both.

Taken by : Brian Colville
Date : July 15, 2020

2020-July 15 - B. Colville - NEOWISE-Zoomed2

I finally got a chance to take a few quick images of the comet last night,
though I did catch a visual glimpse on Tuesday night.  Clouds rolled in
soon after I went out on Tuesday, but last night they held off for a little longer.

I quickly got these pics on the stationary tripod, with exposure a bit long
for the focal length which caused a bit of drift.  I think if it were up another
10 or 20 degrees in elevation it would look 10x more impressive!  The
wider image was with the lens set at 25mm and the zoomed in was at
40mm or so.  Both with my Canon 60D, and 20 sec exposures for both.

Taken by : Brian Colville
Date : July 15, 2020

2020-July 15 - S. Dunne - Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

This is not of the Star of Bethlehem it is Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE
over Eric Mann's cow barn.

Taken by: Sean Dunne
Date : July 15, 2020

2020-July 17 - J. Lee - My attempt at the comet

Hi, I went out to Mathers Corners after hearing from Rick, and made an attempt for the comet
Neowise.
I was shocked with what I saw!

Even with the light pollution coming from Peterborough, the comet was so vivid.
The tail was longer than the size of a full moon, seen without any aid. Absolutely phenomenal.
The view was spectacular with 70 x 15 binoculars. I tried to separate the blue tail from the white
tail, but I couldn’t do that visually.

Here are the pictures I took! I made a mistake of taking them all in JPG, now RAW sadly.
I used my mirrorless Sony a6000 on a regular tripod, shot them untracked with Canon FD 50mm f/1.8
lens with an adaptor to Sony.


ISO 1600 f/1.8
10 second single shot

Taken by : James Lee
Date : July 17, 2020

2020-July 17 - J. Lee - My attempt at the comet - 2

Hi, I went out to Mathers Corners after hearing from Rick, and made an attempt for the comet
Neowise.
I was shocked with what I saw!

Even with the light pollution coming from Peterborough, the comet was so vivid.
The tail was longer than the size of a full moon, seen without any aid. Absolutely phenomenal.
The view was spectacular with 70 x 15 binoculars. I tried to separate the blue tail from the white
tail, but I couldn’t do that visually.

Here are the pictures I took! I made a mistake of taking them all in JPG, now RAW sadly.
I used my mirrorless Sony a6000 on a regular tripod, shot them untracked with Canon FD 50mm f/1.8
lens with an adaptor to Sony.


ISO 1600 f/4
100 stack of 6 second shots

Taken by : James Lee
Date : July 17, 2020

2020-July 17 - P. Chee - Comet NEOWISE from Armour Hill

Tonight I finally decided to go out to higher ground.

Taken by : Phillip Chee
Date : July 17, 2020

2020-July 20 - H. Briggs - Neowise Photo sequence with Big Dipper

These photos were taken last night (Monday) from Stoney Lake (Juniper Island).
All were 10 second exposures, lens set at 16mm f5 ISO 6400 single positioning
of the tripod. They show the change over half an hour with the full big dipper
coming into view.


Taken by : Harold Briggs
Date : July 20, 2020

2020-July 20 - J. Lee - Comet NEOWISE

I went out again for the comet, but this time with a telescope. My initial plan was
to shoot it on the hill of Herald Town CA, but I found the place too spooky for me!
So I parked on nearby CR-4 shoulder, but it wasn’t ideal as CR-4 is a busy road.
But it did have wide shoulder and nice view.

I took 30 shots of the comet but could only stack the first 10 of them because the
comet was moving so fast. You can already see that the head of the comet is not
circular, but elliptical and elongated in vertical ways as it moved in that direction.
(it is circular in individual shots)

Equipment:
Astro-Tech at80edt
Celestron AVX
Nikon D5300

Acquisition:
10 x 1 min shots
ISO 200
Focal length at 384 mm

Processed in Pixinsight


Taken by : James Lee
Date : July 20, 2020

Taken July 21 at Armour Hill. Nikon D800E 50mm lens cropped.
8 seconds at F/4 ISO 800.

Taken by: David Mills

2020-July 8 - R. Stankiewicz -Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)-1

I finally got out this a.m. by 4:00 and by 4:30 things were
fading fast. It is barely naked-eye, but binos (I used 10X50’s)
snapped it into view and my close-up shot is about what you
saw for real. A beauty for sure. It was higher in the NE sky
than I imagined too, but the haze and fog would have been
an issue if it was any lower.

It was humid and the mosquitoes were out too. I shot all these
images with a Canon 60D camera, on a tripod (no tracking),
ISO 1250, f/5.6 and exposures varied from 8 to 3 seconds.
Used a Canon 100-400mm lense at 370mm to 100mm.

Taken by : Rick Stankiewicz
Location : Mathers Corners, Ontario
Date : July 8, 2020

2020-July 8 - R. Stankiewicz -Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)-2

I finally got out this a.m. by 4:00 and by 4:30 things were
fading fast. It is barely naked-eye, but binos (I used 10X50’s)
snapped it into view and my close-up shot is about what you
saw for real. A beauty for sure. It was higher in the NE sky
than I imagined too, but the haze and fog would have been
an issue if it was any lower.

It was humid and the mosquitoes were out too. I shot all these
images with a Canon 60D camera, on a tripod (no tracking),
ISO 1250, f/5.6 and exposures varied from 8 to 3 seconds.
Used a Canon 100-400mm lense at 370mm to 100mm.

Taken by : Rick Stankiewicz
Location : Mathers Corners, Ontario
Date : July 8, 2020

2020-July 8 - R. Stankiewicz -Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)-3

I finally got out this a.m. by 4:00 and by 4:30 things were
fading fast. It is barely naked-eye, but binos (I used 10X50’s)
snapped it into view and my close-up shot is about what you
saw for real. A beauty for sure. It was higher in the NE sky
than I imagined too, but the haze and fog would have been
an issue if it was any lower.

It was humid and the mosquitoes were out too. I shot all these
images with a Canon 60D camera, on a tripod (no tracking),
ISO 1250, f/5.6 and exposures varied from 8 to 3 seconds.
Used a Canon 100-400mm lense at 370mm to 100mm.

Taken by : Rick Stankiewicz
Location : Mathers Corners, Ontario
Date : July 8, 2020

Comet C2019 Y4 ATLAS

I was finally able to capture comet C 2019 Y4 Atlas last night.  The comet is high in the
constellation Ursa Major right now.  The following data is from SkyTools4 Visual Professional
Edition, the software I am using to control my TMB 175mm f8 telescope.  At the time
of my image comet C 2019 Y4 Atlas was 1.1 AU from Earth (1 AU = 150 million km) and
is moving very quickly at 1.76 arc seconds per minute.  It was magnitude 8.2 with a coma
diameter of 2.3 arc minutes.  The actual coma diameter is 110,000 km and shows a
subtle tail of gas and dust.  It will reach perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on May 30th.
Our best view of this comet comes on April 24th and is predicted to reach 0 magnitude.
That will be very impressive if this comes to pass, although it is no slouch right now.  The
comet is brightening quickly, but it is also moving lower in the sky.  Catch it while you can!

The attached image has an exposure of 12 seconds and is a stack of 30 frames performed
within the capture software.  The camera is a MallinCam SkyRaider DS10cTEC.  This
image is a screen capture with no post processing.

Taken by : Brett Hardy
Date : 2020-Mar 25

C/2017 T2 Panstarrs

A few nights ago I tried to grab some images of some of these comets up in the northern sky and I
managed to grab /2017 T2 Panstarrs in Cassiopeia. My image is not near as impressive as your or
Brett's of Y4 Atlas, but I snagged mine with a Canon D6 (DSLR) camera and a Canon 200mm lense from
my front driveway. I have to admit I couldn't see the comet (mag. 8.5), but I framed my viewfinder
in the area the comet was to be that night and I got it. The attached cropped version of my image is
what I got.

Taken by : Rick Stankiewicz
Date : 2020 - Mar 27

2021-Dec 3 - Rick Stankiewicz - Comet Leonard Photo-bombs M3

I am pretty pumped, I just came in a while ago from capturing images of Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) as
it buzzed  globular cluster M3.

Thanks to member, Sean Dunne, for alerting us earlier in the week about this possibility and for
Jason Lichter for getting his earlier similarly amazing shot of the comet with the “Whale and the
Hockey Stick” Galaxies. It was inspirational!

The clouds just about wiped me out this morning but I waited for some “sucker holes” to capture
something/anything and I got lucky!

(Canon 60D & Canon 200mm on iOptron SkyTracker Mount – ISO 3200, f/2.8, 10 sec.)

Taken by : Rick Stankiewicz
Date : 2021 - Dec 3

2021-July 24 - Jason Lichter - Comet Leonard and galaxies

Good stuff!
I got wind of Comet Leonard making it’s way past the whale and hockey stick galaxies and believe it
or not, it was a clear night!
This is 1x120s sub of RGB combined for only 6 min integration. Best I can do currently with a mono
camera to capture comets. Still learning!

Taken by : Jason Lichter
Date : 2021 - Nov 24

Comet 67/P

I managed to get Comet 67/P last night.
Not horrible considering I was shooting mono and having to rotate through filters

Taken by : Jason Lichter
Date : 2021 - Nov 7

Beehive and Comet Lulin

1600asa 10sec 180
CombineFilesAvg





Mar 5 2009 - 2183 to 2209

I was broadcasting early this morning on
http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/  and was
again able to show the comet C/2012 ISON.

This image is a snap shot of my 81 sec
integration  With my MallinCam.

Mike Mccarthy

Comet C2009 P1 and M71 wide angle

14 inch f9  SCT scope






Aug 26, 2011
Brian McGaffney
Taken  from the Nutwood observatory of Comet Garradd as it
neared star cluster M71 To show detail of the comet and M71
without the movement blur of the comet, the camera was set up to
take quick LRGB images and re position the comet backwards against
the digital frame board. Best viewing is done when saving image to
desktop, then use resident viewer.

Comet Catalina

50mm shot at f/2.8 and about ISO 1250 for 20
seconds.


Ever since January 1st the Comet Catalina has been scooting
up the side of the constellation Bootes and will be heading
for the handle of the Big Dipper in a few weeks. It boarding
on naked eye vis, but an easy find with binos. In my 20X80's
it just popped. It shows up as a good sized fuzz ball, but the
tails are not distinct. The 200mm close-up shot shows it best,
as to what you can expect. The dust tail down to the lower
right is hinted at with averted vision, but don't hold out much
hope for the upward pointed ion tail.

Rick Stankiewicz

Comet Catalina

200mm shot at f/2.8 and about ISO 1250 for 20
seconds.

Ever since January 1st the Comet Catalina has been scooting
up the side of the constellation Bootes and will be heading
for the handle of the Big Dipper in a few weeks. It boarding
on naked eye vis, but an easy find with binos. In my 20X80's
it just popped. It shows up as a good sized fuzz ball, but the
tails are not distinct. The 200mm close-up shot shows it best,
as to what you can expect. The dust tail down to the lower
right is hinted at with averted vision, but don't hold out much
hope for the upward pointed ion tail.

Rick Stankiewicz

Comet Hale-Bopp

Comet Hyakutake

Image of Comet ISON taken
October 12th 2013 here at the Nutwood
Observatory. There have been quite a
few morning that were clear over the
last week, but fog in the higher altitudes
here made taking close up images of the
comet not possible. However, this morning
at 4:30 AM it was less misty and we were
able to take the image.

When taken this comet was at Magnitude 10
and moving very fast. Images were taken with
a 14 inch Astrograph, guided and with an
Apogee 16 M CCD camera.

Total aqusition was about 20 minutes, however,
processing time was another story.

Brian McGaffney

Comet Ikeya 1B
Canon


Tripod




Mar.16.02
Rick Stankiewicz

Comet Ikeya-Zhang








Apr.18.02

Comet Lulin

stack of 20 1 min exposures at
800 ISO with a 200 mm zoom

Comet Neat above Beehive

20 min exposure using 800 ISO film






May of 2004

2006-NOV 2 - R. Stankiewicz - Comet Swann compared to M13

Comet Swan in Hercules Keystone_1A
Canon


Mounted piggy-back on Meade ETX 90 scope





Taken by : Rick Stankiewicz
Date : 2006-Nov 6

LINEAR-C-2000-WM1








Dec.6.02