Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) near Arcturus in the constellation of Bootes, at pre-dawn on the morning of January 1, 2016, with the Last Quarter Moon nearby illluminating the sky. A long, faint ion tail is visible extending 2 to 3 degrees to the right while a brighter but stubby dust tail extends down to the south. Shot from home using the 200mm Canon telephoto and 1.4x extender at f/4.5 for a stack of 8 x 2-minute exposures at ISO 800 with the Canon 6D. Median combined stacked to eliminate satellite trails. The comet is slightly blurred due to its own motion in that time.
Comet Catalina, C/2013 US10, near Venus at right, on December 9, 2015, as seen and shot from Arizona, at the Quailway Cottage near Portal. The blue ion tail is visible stretching back several degrees pointing away from the Sun, while the short dust tail extends to the lower right following along the comet’s orbit. This is a stack of 5 x 90-second exposures, taken with the 135mm telephoto and 1.4x extender for a focal length of 190mm, at f/2.8 and with the Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, tracked on the iOptron Sky-Tracker. Two other exposures, of 15s and 1s were blended in with luminosity masks to reduce the glare of Venus to a smaller size.
The waning crescent Moon, Venus and Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) on December 7, 2015. Comet Catalina is barely visible fuzzy blue spot at lower left. The comet proved to be fainter than expected and so with the cloud, it barely shows up, with its short tails wiped out here. Oh well! I was lucky to get this at all, as the forecast called for solid cloud. I shot this from the Quailway Cottage near Portal, New Mexico. Clouds added the coloured diffraction “corona” glows around the Moon and Venus. If you’re going to have cloud, it might as well add to the photo! This is a stack of 6 exposures: 30, 8, 2, 0.5, 1/8s and 1/30s, blended with luminosity masks as HDR would not blend images with such a large range of brightness and content, with the shortest exposures having almost no content execept for two bright objects! The camera was on the iOptron Sky-Tracker to follow the sky and keep the sky targets stationary and aligned. All with the 135mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D at ISO 800.
