Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  Bode's Galaxy  ·  Cigar Galaxy  ·  Coddington's Nebula  ·  IC 2574  ·  M 81  ·  M 82  ·  NGC 3031  ·  NGC 3034  ·  The star 22UMa  ·  The star 24UMa  ·  The star 27UMa  ·  The star 32UMa
Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae, bbright
Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae
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Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae

Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae, bbright
Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae
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Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae

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Description

I first shot Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN), which was just barely above the horizon. I abandoned that idea after one shot - the core was just barely visible, and I was almost sure I wouldn't get much of the tail because I was shooting so low. Plus there were quite a few low clouds along the horizon, despite most of the sky being perfectly clear.

After being disappointed, I was about to pack up and get some sleep, but decided I'd get just one shot of Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near M 81 and M 82. I almost packed up again when I had trouble locating M 81 and M 82 quickly, but finally found them after searching (no go-to capabilities with the SkyTracker of course).

Instead of being disappointed this time, I was surprised and excited to see an obvious tail on Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) in my first shot, so I stuck around and got some more subs so I'd be able to pull out the Integrated Flux Nebulae (IFN) in the area.

I wish now I'd just stuck around for just another 20 minutes of so but whatever, I'm happy with this image and its layers: it features a comet within our solar system (14 light minutes away), IFN near the edge of our galaxy, and distant galaxies (Bode's Nebulae are about 12 million light years away).

Acquisition details: Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 ED UMC @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 43 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing with Astro Pixel Processor and GIMP, taken May 23, 2020 from Bortle 3/4 skies. I didn't bother to stack on the comet and stars separately - so the core of the comet is slightly smudged, but that gets lost in the bright core of the comet after stretching to bring out the IFN.

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Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) near Bode's Nebulae, bbright