Here is last night's image of up and coming (fingers crossed) comet 13P/ Olbers.  When I posted this morning's image of the comet taken on May 7th, I remarked that Olbers had disappointedly changed very little even with the recent increase in solar activity. 

Well this data came back surprising, in several ways.  First I was about to trash the data, since the stars and sky bubbled (using Blink) due to an excessive use of hot water showers running in the house (yes the water heater vents right above where I was imaging 13P/).  Secondly, identical frames at 30 seconds and the sky transparency was only slightly better.  But the comet was indeed brighter.  Each individual sub showed a tail on the computer monitor.

Using PI and WBBP, I was surprised the program could registered the bubbly mess.  Average FWHM on the final stack was 7.4!!  With the magic of BlurXterminator, stars were improved and this OVERSTRETCHED image became acceptable IMM, considering.

Lesson learned... even some of the worst cometary data can be saved with the right tools, especially those low to the distorted horizon under transparent skies.

Observational details:
Backyard setup
scope: C14 HyperStar  fl728mm D356mm
exposure: 34 x 30 sec 
Seeing: 1.5/5
Transparency 8/10 
Observer: DEBartlett
Place: June Lake_California USA

Image Info (Processed images)rojection ............... Gnomonic
Projection origin ........ [1452.512170 939.923778] px -> [RA:  5 02 25.664  Dec: +29 35 42.34]
Resolution ............... 2.132 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -1.578 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2024-05-09 04:08:22 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2024-05-09 04:08:52 UTC
Geodetic coordinates ..... 119 04 46 W  37 46 51 N  2360 m
Focal distance ........... 727.70 mm
Pixel size ............... 7.52 um
Field of view ............ 1d 43' 12.1" x 1d 6' 47.3"
Image center ............. RA:  5 02 25.664  Dec: +29 35 42.14  ex: -0.049966 px  ey: -0.026113 px
Image bounds:
   top-left .............. RA:  5 06 19.996  Dec: +30 10 19.78  ex: -1.041524 px  ey: -2.417050 px
   top-right ............. RA:  4 58 23.201  Dec: +30 07 08.96  ex: +0.147060 px  ey: -2.892301 px
   bottom-left ........... RA:  5 06 25.399  Dec: +29 03 46.61  ex: -1.576849 px  ey: +2.362881 px
   bottom-right .......... RA:  4 58 33.731  Dec: +29 00 37.67  ex: +0.057606 px  ey: +3.408717 px