Comet Catalina US10
in the morning sky
December 31, 2015

 The tawny dust fan is really evident here, pointing upward from the teal coma. pointing to the left is the gas tail which I foud also has plenty of dust in it near the head muting the blue coloration. The bright half moon was a real problem with glare and ghosting! It was difficult to keep the moon light out of the optical system.

 Click here for a larger 1290 sized image

Field here is about 3 degrees wide x 2 tall.
Lens: 12.5" f/5 Home made Newtoninan Platform: Astrophysics AP1200 Camera: SBIG ST10XME CCD Exposure: 20m L, 6mRGB - bin3x3 Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 4/10, Transparency 6/10 Outside Temperature: 20F Processing Tools: Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2 HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS