My last shot at Comet Leonard?

Wow! It cleared up just enough for another shot at Comet Leonard  (the skies are going to cloud up for a week or so) so this is likely my last chance since it will be retreating from Earth very quickly.

This is a single shot (hoping to do some integration later) taken about 6:30 pm tonight (Monday).

Double WOW!  There is real detail in the tail, looks like the comet head is spinning as one of the strands starts on the left hand side of the comet and then angles over to the right hand side the farther the streamer is from the head (at least it appears that way to me).

Data:

Scope: 80mm refractor (non-solar Daystar) f/5 600mm

Mount: AVX

Camera: Canon T3i (modded)

ISO: 1600

Exposure: 30 sec

Image cropped tight

Post-processed with Luminar 2018 software

NOTE: To view a LARGER image of any photo on this blog follow these three basic steps:

1. Click on the photo. This will open a view of the photo... but not necessarily the largest, close-up view.

2. To view it even larger now, right click on that photo and select "Open image in new tab". Depending on the actual size of the image it may take longer to display the image.

3. To progressively enlarge the image with Windows: use CONTROL and + for larger view and CONTROL and - to reduce the size of the image. OR with a Mac: use COMMAND and + to progressively enlarge the image OR COMMAND and - to reduce the size of the image.

Comet Leonard C/2021A1 finally!

For days I have been frustrated by early evening clouds after sunset that were right were the comet was. But finally I was able tonight (December 19, 2021) to get a decent capture of this comet before it heads out of our area of the solar system. It was below Venus and barely above the Huachuca Mountain range to my south-west. This is cropped quite a bit but one can just make out it's short fanned tail.

Scope: Daystar 80mm doublet f/5 600mm fl

Camera: Canon T3i modded

Mount: AVX

Exposure: about 15 sec at ISO 200

Some post processing with Luminar 2018

NOTE: To view a LARGER image of any photo on this blog follow these three basic steps:

1. Click on the photo. This will open a view of the photo... but not necessarily the largest, close-up view.

2. To view it even larger now, right click on that photo and select "Open image in new tab". Depending on the actual size of the image it may take longer to display the image.

3. To progressively enlarge the image with Windows: use CONTROL and + for larger view and CONTROL and - to reduce the size of the image. OR with a Mac: use COMMAND and + to progressively enlarge the image OR COMMAND and - to reduce the size of the image.