An example of brightening auroral curtain to the northeast, on a night with activity increasing at this time, in Churchill, Manitoba from the Northern Studies Centre. This is looking northeast on February 19, 2023. This is a single 13-second exposure with the TTArtisan 11mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon R6 at ISO 3200.
A portrait of green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in Taurus beside Aldebaran and the Hyades on February 14, 2023. The star cluster NGC 1647 is at upper left. This is a stack of 8 x 2-minute exposures with the Canon RF 70-200mm lens at f/5 on the Canon R5 at ISO 1600. Star glows with MagicLight extension in Luminar Neo.
The infamous "Green" Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) passing by reddish Mars with both in the constellation of Taurus on the night of Feb 11, 2023. The comet was 2° south of Mars this night. Mars was embedded in some of the dark obscuring dust clouds in Taurus, creating the dark patchy appearance to the background sky. The comet's coma glows cyan due to emission from diatomic carbon molecules, a common trait of comets. The dust tail and faint ion tail are just visible. This is a stack of 4 x 2-minute exposures at ISO 1600 with filter-modified Canon R and with the SharpStar 94mm EDPH refractor at f/4.5. On the AP Mach1 mount, and autoguided with the ASIAir Mini and 30mm ZWO guidecope. In the 8 minutes of exposure the comet didn't move enough to significantly blur its image at this scale (420mm focal length). Taken from home as part of testing the Mini. A mild diffusion effect added with Radiant Photo plug-in. The comet tails brought out with luminosity masked curves from Lumenzia and with a Lighten DSO action from AstronomyTools.
