Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko 67P skims M35 in Gemini
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph
Uploaded 10/16/21

 

            
This close up
            of this approaching comet shows the close pass to the open cluster
            M35 in the feet of Gemini. Taken at 2:30am, the comet is curretly
            at 10th magnitude. The field here is about half a degree wide
            and is with my 10 inch at f/3.9. Exposure time was 53 mins total
            for L, RGB images.

            
Note that the
            comet now has a beautiful cyan color around its head. This is
            outgassing carbon molecules preceeding the streaming more yellow
            dust tail extending to the right.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1400 x 1290


Instrument:  10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC
Mount:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG 10XME NABG with Enhanced Water Cooling
Guider: Meade DSI Pro  w/80mm piggyback refractor
Exposure:  53mins LRGB
AstroDon RGB Combine Ratio:  1: 1.05: 1.2
Location:  Payson, Arizona, Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FWHM = 3 arcsec , Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  45 F
CCD Temperature:  -20 C
Image Processing Tools: 
Maxim DL6:  Calibration, deblooming (Starizona Debloomer), aligning, stacking
PixInsight:  Curves, Deconvolution
Photoshop CS2:  Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup

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