13P/Olbers 2024-Jun-24 Dan Bartlett

_13P_Olbers_C14HyperStar_asi2600mcP_52x30sec_2024_06_23_214524PDT_JuneLake_California_USA_DEBartlett

Never quit, especially when uncertain. That's what I said to myself when I first spied the comet aligned and integrated image hot off the computer this morning. Last night was the first moonless chance to aim at comet 13P/Olbers again, despite the ever present fading twilight, the skies were very transparent. However the stability was absolutely horrid. Frame by frame on SGP showed the average FWHM to be between 5 and 7. Eccentricity was hovering around 0.3, not bad for the hyperstar, but the stars were bloated. I figured the night was a wash, with the waning gibbous moon minutes away from rising.

My lifesaver goes to the brightest comet in the sky ATM. Almost naked eye at 6.5 magnitude, 13P is very dynamic and pleasantly colorful. I'll now point two rigs at 13P, since I fear I'm losing some of the ion tail extent in the C14 FOV.

Also it's time for a binocular peak. The frontal bullet shaped coma saturates each imaging frame (the plasma stream - not so much).

Resolution Image:
https://astrob.in/cqxq14/B/


Backyard setup
scope: C14 HyperStar fl728mm D356mm
exposure: 52 x 30 sec
Seeing:1/5
Transparency 8.5/10
Observer: DEBartlett
Place: June Lake_California USA

Image Info (Processed ):
Projection ............... Gnomonic
Projection origin ........ [1492.530877 985.929869] px -> [RA: 7 59 56.290 Dec: +42 20 56.87]
Resolution ............... 2.132 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -2.193 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2024-06-24 04:39:06 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2024-06-24 05:25:01 UTC
Geodetic coordinates ..... 119 04 46 W 37 46 51 N 2360 m
Focal distance ........... 727.61 mm
Pixel size ............... 7.52 um
Field of view ............ 1d 46' 3.4" x 1d 10' 3.9"
Image center ............. RA: 7 59 56.289 Dec: +42 20 56.87 ex: +0.001137 px ey: -0.000252 px
Image bounds:
top-left .............. RA: 8 04 38.368 Dec: +42 57 37.45 ex: -1.101149 px ey: -1.102277 px
top-right ............. RA: 7 55 00.495 Dec: +42 53 15.41 ex: +0.001993 px ey: -1.098950 px
bottom-left ........... RA: 8 04 47.039 Dec: +41 47 47.07 ex: -1.444802 px ey: +0.125719 px
bottom-right .......... RA: 7 55 19.616 Dec: +41 43 30.87 ex: +0.002567 px ey: +0.113968 px