Scorpius and Sagittarius rising, with Scorpius coming up on its side, as seen from New South Wales, Australia, April 2, 2016. Mars is the brightest object left of Antares in Scorpius, with fainter Saturn below the reddish pairing of Mars and its rival Antares. The cyan-colored blob at lower left above the trees is Comet Linear/252P, which passed close to Earth the previous month. Many nebulas and clusters are visible along the Milky Way around the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius, which is rising here. This is a stack of 5 x 3-minute exposures with the camera on the iOtron SkyTracker, all at f/2.2 with the 35mm L-Series Canon lens and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600. The ground comes from one other exposure taken imediately after the tracked exposures but with the tracker motor off, and exposed for 8 minutes at f/3.2 and at ISO 640 for lower noise in the sharp, brightly exposed foreground.
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.
