Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3 (Richard Smith)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn) · Contains: Solar system body or event

Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3, Richard Smith

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Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3

Revision title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

Powered byPixInsight

Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3

Revision title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

Composite picture of Comet Leonard C/2021 A1 and globular cluster M3. Very thick fog at home when I woke up at 4AM, but I kept driving up hill into the Santa Cruz mountains and got above the fog and found crystal clear skies. Took photos from the parking lot at Skeggs Point overlook (El Corte de Madera open space) from 4:45AM through until twilight.

120 x 15 second subs
21 flats
22 darks
20 bias
Zoom lens @ 300mm, f6.3

Siril used to do two parallel stacks
1) Star registration: removed smeared comet image with StarNet to generate stars only layer
2) Comet registration, stacking with restrictive Sigma pixel rejection (min 2, max 2) to minimize star trails and generate a comet only layer

Merged layers on Photoshop. Final processing and clean up in Photoshop and Lightroom

REVISION 2022_01_15: I wasn't happy with the squishy image of M3 in the original version. I went back and reprocessed the stars-only and resulting merge to give a bit more clarity, hopefully not compromising the image of the comet

Original
Final
C

C

Title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

Description: Returned to this image which I was never entirely happy with using my improved processing skills. Still stuck with the distorted stars due to the cheap kit zoom lens, but much happier with how M3 looks, as well as IMO a nicer view of the comet. Reprocessed from scratch in Siril (not the easiest for this kind of image I know!) to get a cleaner comet stack, though still needed to clean up the star trails in Photoshop.

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Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3

Revision title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3

Revision title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

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Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3

Revision title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

Comet Leonard 2021 A1 and Messier 3

Revision title: Comet Leonard and M3; reprocess #2

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