Comet Wirtanen (aka 46P) at lower right near the star Menkar in Cetus, as the comet moves north toward Taurus at top, with Orion at left. This was the evening of December 10, 2018. The comet was easily visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy spot, though you had to know where to look. This is a stack of 6 x 2-minute exposures with the Canon 35mm L series lens at f/3.2, and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1250, on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker, taken from home in southern Alberta.
This was Comet Wirtanen / 46P on December 8, 2018 with it traveling north through Eridanus about to enter Taurus for its encounter in a week or so with the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. Orion is to the left, and Taurus with the Pleiades at top. The comet is the green glow at bottom right. This is a stack of 6 x 2-minute exposures, tracked on the Star Adventurer Mini, with the Canon 35mm L lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII (stock) at ISO 1000. Bands of red and brown airglow discolour the field, a common sight in this southerly area of the sky from home. I can rarely shoot wide-angle shots of Orion and not have it tinted with airglow. This was from home in southern Alberta at latitude 51° N.
A telescopic view of Comet Wirtanen / 46P on December 6, 2018 with it in the field with several moderately bright stars in Eridanus. A faint ion tail is visible extending upwards at the “10 o’clock” position, which is more or less the comet’s direction of travel. Taken from home in southern Alberta. The comet was passing through the Clarke Belt this night so some geosynchronous satellite trails appeared in some frames, requiring a median stack mode and some cloning to eliminate. This is a stack of 3 x 2-minute exposures aligned on the stars, and a stack of 3 x 1-minute at ISO 3200 and 3 x 1-minute at ISO 1600, each set aligned on the moving comet, with those short exposure stacks aligned to the core of the comet to provide a less trailed and not too over-exposed nucleus core. All with the A&M 105mm apo refractor and Hotech field flattener for f/6.2, and stock Canon 6D MkII. All processing in Photoshop. Diffraction spikes added for photogenic effect with Astronomy Tools actions.
