AstroAdventures

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C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) and The Andromeda Galaxy. Imaged by Tony Gibbons.
Canon 40D. Sigma 17-70m lens. HEQ5 mount. 2nd & 3rd April 2013.

The PANSTARRS telescope in Hawaii discovered this comet in June 2011. Since comets carry the names of their discoverers, it has been designated C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). Only the largest telescopes on Earth could glimpse Comet PANSTARRS when it was first discovered, but amateurs telescopes began to pick it up by May 2012. By October 2012, its surrounding coma was seen to be large and fine at an estimated 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) wide.

Comet Lulin. 1st March 2009. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D. EQ6 pro.

Comet Lulin (official designation C/2007 N3 (Lulin)) is a non-periodic comet. It was discovered by Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng from Lulin Observatory. It peaked in brightness and arrived at perigee for observers on Earth on February 24, 2009, at magnitude +5, and at 0.411 AU from Earth. According to NASA, Comet Lulin's green color comes from a combination of gases that make up its local atmosphere, primarily cyanogen and diatomic carbon, which both appear as a green glow when illuminated by sunlight in the vacuum of space.
* Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imaged at the prime focus of our Intes, at a focal length of 1070mm. There was an very noticeable movement of the comet across the total exposure period. A combination of x6 - 2 minute exposures with corresponding darks and flats. Stacked and aligned in Deep Sky Stacker using 'comet mode'. Final adjustments in Photoshop.

click for a larger image

Comet 17P Holmes. 29th October 2007. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D. EQ6 pro.
*17P/Holmes is a periodic comet in our solar system discovered by the British amateur astronomer Edwin Holmes on November 6, 1892.
Between October 23–24, 2007, the comet grew much brighter, going from magnitude 17 to magnitude 2.8 in just a few hours, while in the constellation Perseus. The first reported person to notice anything happening with 17P/Holmes was J. A. Henríquez Santana on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands; minutes later Ramón Naves in Barcelona noticed the comet at magnitude 7.3. It became easily visible to the naked eye as a bright yellow "star" in the northeast sky within Perseus. 17P/Holmes appeared as the third brightest "star" in Perseus by October 25. While large telescopes showed fine-scale cometary details, naked-eye views of the object revealed a view similar to looking at a star until October 26. After October 26 the object began to appear more comet-like to naked-eye observers. During this 2007 outburst, its orbit took it to near opposition with respect to Earth, and since comet tails point away from the Sun, this means Earth observers were looking nearly straight down along its tail, making it appear as a bright sphere in telescopes.*
* Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imaged at the prime focus of our Intes, at a focal length of 1070mm.

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. 22.30 GMT. 26th March 2006.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Meade DSI. EQ6 pro.
Imaged at the prime focus of our Intes, at a focal length of 1070mm. This perfect little comet, complete with tail, was caught as it passed from Corona Borealis towards Hercules. A total exposure time of 6.5 minuted has revealed the movement of the comet against the background stars. The 'off equatorial' tracking of the comet was achieved through the DSI software. Final adjustment was carried out in Photoshop.
This comet had split into many parts and this image records the brightest part.

Comet Neat. Alport. Derbyshire. May 22nd 2004
350mm f5.6 telephoto on a Cosina 35mm SLR.
A small comet, typical of many near naked eye comets.A small tail is just visible.The film used was Kodak Gold 400 neg film and the exposure was 12minutes. The camera was piggybacked on a telescope. This picture was shot from Alport heights in Derbyshire which is as close to a dark sky as is available in the Nottingham area. The resulting neg was scanned in on an Imacon Flextight and then finished in Photoshop.

Comet Hale-Bopp. Imaged from Nottingham. Spring 1997
350mm f5.6 telephoto on a Cosina 35mm SLR.
On July 23, 1995, an unusually bright comet outside of Jupiter's orbit was discovered independently by Alan Hale, New Mexico and Thomas Bopp, Arizona. It is the farthest comet ever discovered by amateurs and appeared 1000 times brighter than Comet Halley did at the same distance.
This comet was superb! The film used was Kodak elite 400 and the exposure 12minutes. The camera was piggybacked on a telescope. Because of the position of the telescope there was only a small window of opportunity for this picture. Luckily, for once, the weather obliged. The resulting slide was scanned in on an Imacon Flextight and then finished in Photoshop.

Comet Hyakutake.Imaged from Nottingham. March 1996
350mm f5.6 telephoto on a Cosina 35mm SLR.
A grand comet. On January 30, 1996, Yuji Hyakutake in Japan discovered this comet with 25x150 binoculars. The comet was visible from late March until late April, 1996. On March 25, the comet reached its closest approach to Earth of 9.3 million miles.The discoverer, died age 51,on April 11, 2002. This picture was taken on Kodak elite 400 with an exposure of 20 minutes. The resulting slide was later scanned in on an Imacon Flextight and then finished in Photoshop.

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