Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2) passing near the bright galaxy pair Messier 81 (below) and Messier 82 (above) in Ursa Major on the night of May 23/24, 2020. This was the comet that in predictions from autumn 2019 was supposed to have been the highlight of May 2020, perhaps reaching naked-eye brightness, or at least be bright enough to be good for binoculars. It was visible in 15x70 binoculars this night but quite faintly as a fuzzy spot near the brighter galaxies, so about magnitude 8 at best. Comets SWAN and ATLAS for a time usurped this comet for publicity in spring 2020 but also largely failed to perform, certainly not reaching naked eye brightness. This is a stack of 8 x 8-minute exposures with the William Optics RedCat astrograph at f/4.9 (250mm focal length) and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600, median stacked. Guided on stars — so, yes, the comet has trailed somewhat but it is not noticeable at this image scale and the motion was in the direction of the comet length. The field here is about 8° x 5°, similar to binoculars. North is up.
The much heralded Comet SWAN (aka C/2020 F8) makes it appearance in my morning dawn sky at my northern latitude after putting on a show in the southern skies. However, it doesn’t look or photograph like much as it is low and lost in the early dawn twilight. It is the small fuzzy green spot left of centre. It will climb higher but dawn is also coming on sooner as we approach summer solstice. So this comet will never be well-placed for northern latitude observers. This is a stack of 4 x 30-second exposures at ISO 400 with the William Optics RedCat 51mm f/5 astrograph and Canon EOS Ra, giving a focal length of 250mm and a field 8° by 5°. The comet was in Triangulum at this time, but moving northward.
Incoming Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) on March 26, 2020 as shot through a 100mm f/5.8 apo refractor (the SharpStar 100Q) for a field of about 3.5° by 2.5°. A very faint ion tail is visible extending away at 2 o’clock. This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute exposures, median combined, with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600. While the comet did move slightly over the 30 minutes of shooting the median stacking minimized the trailing of the comet image.
