C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) 2021-Jan-02 Chris Schur

This spectacular scene involving a 1st magnitude G type star and a 10th magnitude comet is an imaging challenge to say the least. This one hour exposure was required for the faint comet which is a nice teal color here, but way overexposed the brilliant Capella. The comet here is within half a degree of this star, and fortunately did not end up under one of the huge diffraction spikes from Capella!

Lens: 8 f/3.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian
Platform: Homemade Byers GEM
Exposure: 55mins
Location: Happy Jack, Arizona
Elevation: 6800 ft.
Sky: Seeing 7/10, Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature: 20F
Processing Tools: Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2