C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) 2020-Dec-06 Chris Schur

Comet Atlas M3
Bright Comet in Auriga
with 10" f/3.9 Astrograph

This comet is approaching the center of Auriga and will make stunning pairings with many deep sky objects in the coming weeks. Currently around 8th magnitude, this small comet has faded considerably in the past month and shrunk in size. This is a 1 hour exposure with the 10 inch f/3.9 and new ZWO CMOS camera.

Instrument: 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian with Baader MPCC
Mount: Astrophysics 1200 QMD
Camera: ZWO ASI071MC Pro Color CMOS
Guider: ZWO ASI mini w/80mm piggyback refractor
Exposure: 60m ( 2 min subs)
Location: Payson, Arizona, Elevation: 5150 ft.
Sky: Seeing FWHM = 2 arcsec , Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature: 45 F

Image Processing Tools:
Maxim DL6: Calibration, Color Conversion, aligning, stacking
PixInsight: Saturation Curves
Photoshop CS2: Curves, Color Correction, Gradient removal (Grad Xterminator), Cleanup