Comet 46P/Wirtanen
in the evening sky
December 24, 2018

 
 With
            barely an hour before moon up after the fall of darkness, I sqeezed
            in this set of images through the holes in dense cirrus. I was
            able to get 10 good and evenly lit 2 minute subframes with the
            Stellarvue SV80s (second image) totalling 20 minutes and a few
            good wide angle shots with the 17mm f/4 on a nearby barndoor
            mount. Here is the results of this effort, the comet is still
            pretty easy naked eye, and photographed a nice deep teal color.
            Only a broad fan shaped tail appears above the refractor image
            below. The comet is approximately 4th magnitude.
 

            


            
Comet Wirtanen in Auriga
17mm f/4 Canon L lens, Hutech modified Canon Xti


Click here for a larger 1400 sized image



            


            
With the Stellarvue SV80s, a far deeper exposure
reveals a broad brightening just above the comet and 
a more parabolic coma.

Click here for a larger 1400 sized image


Lens:  17-40mm Canon L Lens at f/4
Platform:  Robotic Barndoor Mount
Camera: Canon Xti
Exposure:  3m

Stellarvue SV80s Astrograph at f/4.7
20 mins total integration time.

Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  7/10, Transparency 5/10
Outside Temperature:  30F
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2
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