Astronomy, Astro Photography and Landscape Photography
Photographs of Comet C/2011 L4 (PANNSTARRS)
This page contains my photographs of C/2011 L4 (PANNSTARRS), a comet which it is proposed will become very bright (perhaps naked eye visible) in 2013. I say wait and see! But in the mean time I have scheduled photography of the comet in to my nightly script, so intend to build up a history of photographs of the comet over the coming months (which will become more challenging in February-March as the comet moves closer to the sun).
A photograph of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS over the Perth City. Cloud moved through the image during the exposures, causing the very industrial look as light pollution reflected off the clouds.Photograph of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS over the Perth City Lights. Taken on the 5th March at a focal length of 100mm.A photograph of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS in sunset hues taken on the 2nd March 2013 from Shoalwater in Western Australia. 100mm focal length.Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS meets the ocean. Taken on 2nd March 2013 at 130mm focal length.A photograph of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on 28th February 2013. This photograph was taken with my Canon 7D DSLR using a Canon 100-400 F/4L lens at 400mm. The photograph is an amalgamation of 16 x 20 second exposures with one exposure having the foreground retained.
Below is information and photographs from a sequence of photographs I took in January and February, now ended due to horizon limitations and the location of C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS.
Magnitude estimates from observations of the comet L4 PANSTARRS. Unfortunately from the 30th until 3rd February the nucleus was near maximum ADU (pixel saturation) and so magnitude estimates became less reliable. I will be decreasing the exposure time to compensate in future runs.
All photographs are taken using my 12″ SCT upon Paramount ME with SBIG ST8-XME camera using clear filter. Focal length was approx 2990mm and scale is 1.26 arcsec/pixel but has now changed to 2200mm and 1.69 arcsec/pixel, all at bin 2×2. Times shown are in UT, of the middle exposure of the exposure sequence from the given night/morning.
My last image captured of C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS in the following sequence through my 12″ SCT telescope was on the 15th February 2013. At this time the comet was less than 10 degrees above the horizon when photographed, and getting closer to the horizon by the day. Clouds, wind and the proximity to the horizon have prevented me continuing to photograph the comet since the 19th February which was my last attempt (and was of poor quality due to cloud).
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS); 2013-02-15T20:34:11; fl=220mm, scale=0.86”/pixel, ST8-XME @ Bin 1×1, 24 x 60s average, clear filter.Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-02-07T20:35:52; fl=220mm, scale=1.69”/pixel, 20x30s, ST8-XME, clear filterComet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-02-02T20:23:07.495; fl=2200mm; scale=1.69”/pixel, 10x60s, ST8-XMEPhotograph of Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-31T20:23:23; fl=2200mm scale=1.69”/pixel, 10x60s, ST8-XME bin 2×2, clearThis image has been heavily edited to balance the head and tail more, to allow the far bottom right of the tail to be more visible. Because of this the background is unflat and other artefacts exist making it what I’d consider a less accurate representation of brightness, but it does show the far tail without burning out the core. Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-29T20:23:06 fl=2200mm scale=1.69”/pixel ST8-XME clear bin 2×2Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-29T20:23:06; fl=2200mm scale=1.69”/pixel ST8-XME clear bin 2×2. The bottom (ion?) tail of the comet is the most visible I have seen in this photograph, showing as a clear line extending almost directly to the bottom right corner.Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) focal length and field of view comparison beteen f/10 and f/7.4
Images below this point were taken at f/10, 2990mm. Since then I have added a focal reducer bringing this down to f/7.4 and 2200mm. Images above this point are taken at the new 2200mm focal length.
A photograph of Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) at 2013-01-26T20:22:30; fl=2990mm, scale=1.26”/pixel, 10x60s, clear filter.Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-25T20:22:30; fl=2990mm, scale=1.26”/pixel, 10x60s, f/10A photograph with the brightness levels stretched to emphasis the forked tail which is now much more obvious even in the normally processed image of comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS. Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-23T20:23:35; fl=2990mm, scale=1.26”/pixel, 11x60sComet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-23T20:23:35; fl=2990mm, scale=1.26”/pixel, 11x60sComet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-17T19:45:57 20x60sC/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) 2013-01-10T20:11:48
