13P/Olbers 2024-Jul-04 Dan Bartlett

_13P_Olbers_RASA11_asi6200McP_29x60sec_2024_07_03_220818local_JuneLake_California_USA_DEBartlett

Comet 13P/ Olbers Mimics the Year of the Dragon (giving it a small amount of imagination) July4, 2024UT (RASA11 + FullFrame)

Yes this is a wild one! There certainly seems to be a corkscrew effect seen in this image of 13P/ Olber's tail (Thank you to Chris Schur suggested a spiral nature to the nucleus) . With a little imagination one might envision the shape of a snake or dragon as this comet spits out gases as if it were a lawn sprinkler. Of course the sun is have some fun with this comet also.

I've just finished another imaging session, moments ago, so we'll see if the feature has lasted 24hours (I'll post without notification FYI). My guess on the duration of this interesting morphological shape, is nope - it won't last. I've imaged 13P/ every night since June 22, without a hiccup, and this comet changes nightly.

My weather looks extremely favorable through the next week or so, however the moon enters the scene on the 10th allowing me a bit of rest and catch up.

Oh binocular visibility? An obvious elongated puff of nebula with hints of a central condensation and some nights, like July5UT, an impression of a small spike like tail extending up off the horizon.
​​​​​​​Dan

Full Resolution:
https://astrob.in/6uzixs/B/


Backyard setup
scope: RASA 11 fl620mm D279mm
exposure: 29 x 60 sec
Seeing:4.5/5
Transparency 8.5/10
Observer: DEBartlett
Place: June Lake_California USA (Altitude +7700ft)

Image Info (Processed ):
Projection ............... Gnomonic
Projection origin ........ [2331.995928 1560.967957] px -> [RA: 8 55 58.105 Dec: +42 55 41.72]
Resolution ............... 2.510 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -2.316 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2024-07-04 05:08:18 UTC
Focal distance ........... 617.98 mm
Pixel size ............... 7.52 um
Field of view ............ 3d 15' 6.6" x 2d 10' 36.2"
Image center ............. RA: 8 55 58.107 Dec: +42 55 41.72 ex: -0.008389 px ey: -0.151529 px
Image bounds:
top-left .............. RA: 9 04 46.506 Dec: +44 03 46.13 ex: -1.087770 px ey: -1.078677 px
top-right ............. RA: 8 46 42.019 Dec: +43 55 25.36 ex: +2.109444 px ey: -1.127044 px
bottom-left ........... RA: 9 04 56.034 Dec: +41 53 12.39 ex: -1.024992 px ey: -0.338961 px
bottom-right .......... RA: 8 47 28.830 Dec: +41 45 05.30 ex: +1.079507 px ey: -0.102306 px