2023a3 20241013 dbartlett

1st Morning After Closest Earth Approach, Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS 135mm Piggybacked October 13 2024local
 
 
 
 Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS captured with a Samyang 135 and an APS-C sensor first night after the comet's closest approach to earth.
 
 
 
Notes:
 


    Actually the first real evening where the comet seamed impressive with the naked eye and binos. 
    Capturing the comet the night prior with the same setup and 1 second subs rendered the image of the comet useless.   The bright twilight skies proved problematic. 
    A little over 3 minutes of 21 x 10 seconds were stacked here. 
    The unsharpened background mountain ridge of the Eastern Sierras was transposed directly from the 10 sec reference frame used to center the comet. (see Included image.) 
    Color calibration was made using SPCC.  I saturated the stars to bring out their color HOWEVER I did NOT adjust the saturation of the comet.  The reddish brown vibrancy of the comet is the sole product of  gradient removal, stacking & stretching! 
    Orbital plane crossing occurred between Oct14 &15.  The anti-tail is starting to develop here as this is a few days earlier. 
    Comet 13P/ Olbers can be found near the top left of frame (See annotated version for assistance) 
    Since the comet's tail is directed earthward and along the orbital plain, the comet is less defined and details blurred. 
    The Samyang 135 and the asi2600mcP were piggybacked on the main scope (see below setup).  I am starting from the first day of usable data for this setup and will work my way forward. 
    Much more to come - for archival purposes...my apologies. 

 
 
 
Full resolution link:
https://astrob.in/pfkzuo/D/
 
 
 
Observational Notes:
scope: Samyang135  fl135mm F/2.4
Camera: asi2600mcP
image: 21x10sec and 62x20sec
Seeing: 4/5
Transparency: 9/10 Heavy Moonlight
Observer: DEBartlett
Place: Remote Oh! Ridge California USA (Altitude +2408m)
 
Image Info (all ):
Down sampled 2x2 (CMOS = BIN 2x2)
(All images processed solely using PixInsight)
Projection ............... Stereographic
Projection origin ........ [1025.170294 1544.074267] px -> [RA: 14 52 00.069  Dec:  +0 32 57.12]
Resolution ............... 11.979 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. 82.395 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2024-10-14 02:18:54 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2024-10-14 02:28:03 UTC
Geodetic coordinates ..... 119 04 46 W  37 46 30 N  2357 m
Focal distance ........... 129.49 mm
Pixel size ............... 7.52 um
Field of view ............ 6d 49' 16.4" x 10d 16' 30.3"
Image center ............. RA: 14 52 00.066  Dec:  +0 32 57.11  ex: -0.000152 px  ey: +0.000162 px
Image bounds:
   top-left .............. RA: 15 14 03.873  Dec:  -2 07 47.62  ex: -1.106216 px  ey: -1.141253 px
   top-right ............. RA: 15 10 34.997  Dec:  +4 35 27.58  ex: +0.009830 px  ey: -1.099615 px
   bottom-left ........... RA: 14 33 19.467  Dec:  -3 31 00.03  ex: -1.735270 px  ey: +1.160953 px
   bottom-right .......... RA: 14 29 52.710  Dec:  +3 13 30.35  ex: +0.153869 px  ey: +2.161810 px
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