C\2002 E3 - drookit (Tom Gray)

C\2002 E3 - drookit

Revision title: Processed in SiRIL and finished in Startools and Nebulosity

I've seen so many stunning pictures of this little green visitor, I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but it is my own effort, and contribution to the community. Looking 'drookit' like it is ploughing through a heavy rainstorm, comet ZTF has come to life after being discovered in March 2022 (by the Zwicky Transient Facility). Nearly a year on, it is closest to earth today, - remaining just outside naked eye visibility, an easy binocular object as it carves through the most northerly constellations on its 50,000 year journey.

I'd hoped for more from this 3 hour integration, spoiled by a bright waxing moon, and my inability to align both the comet and the stars using DSS, which has such a feature. Nevertheless it has a certain magic and I'm pleased to have captured the lovely diatomic carbon 'heat shield' and a trace of the fine ion tail. The colourful dust tail has got rather swallowed up in the elongated star field.

Taken under very windy, bright conditions, I decided to go for maximum stability, with my 183C OSC camera attached to my Pentax SLR zoom lens, and mounted on my trusty Star Adventurer. I employed guiding but to be honest probably didn't need to.

The reverse mouseover picks out a little more detail in the ion tail. Revision B shows a single frame in a colourful starfield. Revision C my attempt to capture this using my 80mm refractor, which reveals interesting structure in the coma, and a short ‘ante tail’. I'm not sure how real this, or if it is an artifact of taming the highlights. It is apparent how the direction of the tail has changed as the comet edges closer to the sun.

B

Title: A single 120s frame

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: 545mm

Description: A stack of 34 x 120s frames taken on 21 Jan 2023 at 545mm using my 183C OSC and Zenithstar 80mm semi-Apo on my Star Adventurer mount. On this occasion I guided on the comet rather than the starfield, but could not DSS to align both comet and stars. I guess the pronounced rotation is because the SA does not guide in Declination.

Uploaded: ...

D

Title: 8x3m exposures

Description: 545mm on 22 Jan 2022

Uploaded: ...

E

Title: Stacked and aligned in DSS

Description: I managed to get stacking and comet alignment to work in DSS - but alas the colour is all over the place. Herewith a mono version, 300s subs so lots of elongation of the coma

Uploaded: ...

G

Title: Processed in SiRIL and finished in Startools and Nebulosity

Description: At last, I've managed to produce a half decent version of this jolly green comet, as it passed by earth. Lengthy processing of star-aligned and comet-aligned stacks, photometric colour calibration, background extraction and basic stretch. Files were then exported and starless version (Starnet v2) created. Layers were blended in Startools, with background reduction. Then to Nebulosity for star reduction and final smoothing (GreyCstoration). Phew... I'm not sure it was worth all the effort...

Uploaded: ...

Low-Cost Astrophotography
Altair Astro 183 M/C Hypercams
UK Astro-Imaging

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7214052
PixInsight job	46BBQJCHEUCAKCL7DUYXNEAFF2583K8N
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	07h25m00s.59
RA (top/left)	07h00m29s.40
RA (top/right)	07h05m05s.40
RA (bottom/right)	07h43m35s.40
RA (bottom/left)	07h51m13s.25

Dec (center)	+76°30′51″.4
Dec (top/left)	+78°22′17″.8
Dec (top/right)	+74°35′55″.6
Dec (bottom/right)	+74°32′27″.8
Dec (bottom/left)	+78°18′04″.1

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C\2002 E3 - drookit

Revision title: Processed in SiRIL and finished in Startools and Nebulosity

C\2002 E3 - drookit

Revision title: Processed in SiRIL and finished in Startools and Nebulosity

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C\2002 E3 - drookit

Revision title: Processed in SiRIL and finished in Startools and Nebulosity

C\2002 E3 - drookit

Revision title: Processed in SiRIL and finished in Startools and Nebulosity

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G

Sky plot

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