Comet Panstarrs K1
Faint comet in Ursa Major
May 29, 2014

 
 This
            8th magnitude comet continues to be a challenge for astro imagers,
            now riding high in the north west near the zenith at the end
            of evening twilight. Seen here is the dust tail heading left
            from the comets coma in this image, and the stranded gas tail
            to the lower left. This gas tail is very faint and difficult
            to image - especially last night when this was taken because
            of the presence of a brilliant 4.6 magnitude star, Omega Ursa
            Majoris clipping the top of the comet here. The huge glow and
            diffraction spikes from this star nearly over power the comet,
            and a giant blooming spike right over the comets tail had to
            be removed as well. None the less, the comet shows a nice teal
            coma, and is developing nicely!

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

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Negative image to show
the strands in the ion tail

Select an image size for a larger view:

1290 x 960
            


Lens:  12.5" f/5 Home bult Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics AP1200 
Exposure:  1h 18m LRGB
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  7/10, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  50F
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2
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