Comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS

The 2025 R3 PanSTARRS comet on the evening of May 10 as it passed near the Orion Nebula. Captured on a Canon 60D, 45 frames @ 30sec each using a Tamron 70-200mm lens @ 125mm f2.8 Stacked in Seti Astro Suite pro.

Sauropod Spots A Comet

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) rises in the east over a sauropods curious gaze.

Comet 12P Pons/Brooks

A preliminary attempt at photographing Comet 12P Pons/Brooks among the twighlight and clouds.

Comet Leonard C/2021 A1

I caught my first photo of Comet Leonard C/2021 A1 on the full moon. Not ideal, however it was a start. Hopefully further into the waning moon the contrast will improve and hopefully a clearer and closer shot will be possible. This one was cropeed from a 16mm, f4, 5 second exposure on my trusty old Canon 60D.

Comet 21P Giacobini-ZInner

A shot of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner from this morning about 4am. This one is in colour and stretched to try to bring out the tail a little more. A stack of about 20 frames, 20 seconds each, ISO3200 and assembled in Nebulosity. Taken with my TeleVue 101is at 540mm focal length. The cluster M35 is on the right of frame.

Pink PANSTARRS

And there in the pink hue of scattered light below the Moon was Comet PANSTARRS 2014 Q1.

PANSTARRS Sunset

Somewhere in the wonderful band of colour below the Moon, but above the horizon, lies the comet C/2014 Q1 PANSTARRS. This shot gave a nice context to frame where the comet should be.

Comet

I went chasing a comet last night and all I got was this photo! But seriously, this is Comet C/2014 Q1 PANSTARRS. It was hiding in the sunset glow just below the moon. If you click to view the large version you will see two distinct tails. The vertical ion tail and the dust tail to the right.

Comet C/2014 Q2

The latest Christmas Comet, Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2. Seen as the small green glow just right of centre, this was taken with a 200mm lens and 5 second exposure. The tail is not quite visible here but hopefully it may brighten in the days ahead.

Siding Spring Revisited

A reprocessed and improved version of the comet Siding Spring approaching planet Mars on the 18th October 2014 (Original post here).  This version has used Adobe Lightroom to first develop the raw images before stacking and processing in Nebulosity.  The difference a great piece of software makes to the data in an image is remarkable.

Close Encounters

In a close encounter of the Mars kind, comet Siding Spring last night was on course for a flyby of planet Mars.  I captured this shot with 10 minutes of exposure time and my trusty 60mm refractor. The noise in the camera is almost unbearable and has drowned out much of the signal, so I've really stretched the curves of this image to show up the faint detail.  And there in the noise, you can see the comet, a small green ball and whispy tail in the mid left of frame, headed toward the ruddy Mars.

Chasing ISON

Comet ISON is presently in the early morning sky before dawn near the bright star Spica, below and east of reddish Mars.  I tried getting a shot Sunday morning, but cloud obscured the view.

PanSTARRS Treat

This wonderful photo of Comet PanSTARRS next to the iconic red and white copper stack in Mount Isa was taken by astronomer Len Fulham last Monday evening. You may have also seen the article in the local paper. We caught our last glimpse of this comet from Mount Isa last night.

PANSTARRS

Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) setting over Mount Isa on the evening of Sunday 03/03/2013.  The comet was discovered using the Pan-STARRS telescope in Maui in 2011.  In this black and white image it is directly between the two stacks and has the faint tail extending upwards to the left.

South Pole

The south celestial pole becomes evident in this star trail image.  The large and small Magellanic Clouds can also be seen.  This is approximately 15 minutes of exposure time.  If you look very closely just to the right of the celestial pole you will notice a distinctly green 'star trail' (nearly vertical).  That is actually comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6).  Thanks to Len for finding this one for me.

Christmas Comet Lovejoy

Sounding like something from the Simpson's is comet Lovejoy 2011 W3.  It recently passed very close to the sun and is visible in the early morning hours before sunrise.  It is well worth a look as comets like this don't come along every dynasty.