Comet Wirtanen 46P on December 15, 2018 taken in the blue-sky moonlight, with the first quarter Moon still well up in the southwest, and when the comet was passing near the Pleiades star cluster, Messier 45, in Taurus. Some high cloud and haze was just beginning to move in, thwarting any further efforts to shoot the scene under darker skies later that night after moonset. The comet was nearest to Earth on this weekend, Dec 15-16, 2018. This is a stack of 2 x 90-second exposures aligned on the stars, and 2 x 30-second exposures aligned on the comet and blended in for the core of the comet coma to reduce its intensity and size. All with the 200mm Canon L lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800. Lens focused with the Bhatinov mask. Diffraction spikes added with Astronomy Tools action, for photogenic effect. They look pretty!
Comet Wirtanen 46P with the star clusters of Taurus: the Pleiades (M45) at top, the Hyades with yellow Aldebaran at lower left, and NGC 1647 at far left. The comet was nearly at its closest point to Earth and at its brightest. This is a stack of 6 x 1-minute exposures with the Rokinon 85mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1600, on the Star Adventurer tracker, taken December 14/15 as the skies cleared in the Chinook winds of southern Alberta. Star glows added with Orton effect in Luminar.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) passing Mars in the constellation of Taurus on the night of Feb 10, 2023. Mars appears to be at the tip of a dark lane of interstellar dust in the Taurus Dark Clouds. The comet is showing its whitish dust tail and blue ion tail, as well as its cyan coma from diatomic carbon emission. The star cluster at left is NGC 1746. This is a stack of 6 x 2-minute exposures at ISO 1600 with Canon R5 and with the RF70-200mm lens at f/4 and 179mm. Tracked but unguided on the AP Mach1 mount, and taken from home. A mild diffusion effect added with Radiant Photo plug-in. Faint nebulosity brought out with luminosity masked curves from Lumenzia.
