Comets

[stuck knot]

wow, so close!

How come there is no tail visible in this view, I thought it's very bright

the weather finally seems extremely favorable today 😊 😊

[proud dew]

ok so either my plan didnt work and is showing artefacts or it does work and the comet is spinning at 0.2rpm(one rotation per 5min), id need more data from other people of the same comet at diferent(shorter) exposure times to compare the results and see if it worked

[night otter]

swan from a few nights ago. just figuring out the process 110x60sec

[proud dew]

it's an artefact, ill fix it and come back

[night otter]

Bit better

[proud dew]

that's what i got and sadly there isn't anything usefull there, i was trying to use a trick that magnies any movment in a scene to see if the nucleus will show any signs of repetable oscilation in size or shape that could be a result of the rock inside slowly rotating and water jets that are coming off the comet could then affect the nucleus but there isn't any sign of that here so either those effects just do not occur or the image zoom needed is much higher to uncover them

that's where the comet is stabilised, there is some flickering around the comet but not at very repeatable intervals

[lavish lark]

the brightness of a comet doesnt actually mean how active the tail is, the two are usually related but clearly not now

[stuck knot]

Right, thing is I have always seen photos of the comet with super prominent tails

I guess that's with a bit of HDR process 😄

[lavish lark]

swan used to have a bright tail, then it got way further from the sun so it disappeared

[stuck knot]

Oh, that's not the 🍋 one!

I am always so confused by there being multiple comets at once 😄

[stuck knot]

Might be interesting if only comet flickers and not anything else 🤔

[steel widget]

I'd be kinda surprised if you're able to determine the angular speed of the comet from the length of my subs and my pixel scale :oo

Tbh there were some clouds on that day, I have wayyyy better subs from last night that I can share if u want this instead? They are 90sec subs as opposed to 60sec subs before tho

[proud dew]

i can give it a try but im afraid that what is needed is more detail in the nucleus from a more sensitive camera not a dlsr and more zoom

[balmy gale]

dslrs are plenty sensitive in the visible range

[steel widget]

Fair, ask maybe @knotty crane

[stuck knot]

It's happening!

[versed jasper]

@lavish lark i missed my chance of imaging A6 from home. It doesnt rise to 30+° until 8am, when the Sun is out

[lavish lark]

rippp

thats why you dont wait for comets to get bright folks

[stuck knot]

Some polar lights next to the comet as a bonus 😮

Comet is just a bit tiny at 50mm 😄

Now how the hell do I stack the comet in this horizon shot, I have no idea xD

[wild sequoia]

OH THATS NICE
I MISS THE AURORA TOO
IF A METEOR SHOWER AND A COMET VISIBLE ON A NEW MOON WASNT ENOUGH

[stuck knot]

I actually saw 3 meteors fly by too 😄

Crazy times

[wild sequoia]

https://tenor.com/view/knight-roaring-knight-deltarune-boss-gif-4552315353866418347

[stuck knot]

cloudy for you? :<

[wild sequoia]

these clouds are gonna be the death of me

[wild sequoia]

lemme just show you how bad it is

[stuck knot]

RIP 🙁

I think we al can agree we hate clouds xD

[stuck knot]

Beautiful

[wild sequoia]

and it continues for uhhg

until the 23rd at least

I have a chance to catch stuff tomorrow night but after that im really out of luck

[stuck knot]

😔

[wild sequoia]

I do plan to make the most of it

with my
terrible whatsapp camera (I have a good phone camera but it DOESNT WORK because it fell out of my pocket while I was tying my laces) and birdwatching binocs that picked up both a3 at mag 4 to 5 and 12p at mag 5.2

[stuck knot]

I should buy some binoculars for astro too 😄

Dad saw this comet as well trhough them, but very dim

[wild sequoia]

bonus points if you can get one like mine that can record video n stuff

(how I got all my a3 pics)

[stuck knot]

digital binoculars 😮

[versed jasper]

I wasnt i was waiting for a clear night

[wild sequoia]

binoc vs phone camra

oh wait no I picked a bad video

better

[balmy gale]

looks like you got hundreds of little comets 😆

[knotty crane]

1st time catching A6 in the evening to the west this time. Not super ideal position, but I made it work. Ran the Rock'nOn 135 this time.

[stuck knot]

I am wondering which is the phone camera's work and which is the f/1.4 work, both are problematic... 😄

[stuck knot]

Niice, my goal is to resolve some nice tail structure like this too

[stuck knot]

That's not bad 😮

So those are birding binoculars which are sensitive enough for astro too, and they are not optical and fully digital?

[steel widget]

☄️ 🦢

[compact mesa]

nice

[wild sequoia]

yea
can do photos too but stuff shows up better on video

[stuck knot]

I see, cool

[wild sequoia]

turns out it was cloudier than expected and I can't go for a6 tonight

my next possible chance is the 24th and if not then I'll probably miss the rest of the observation arc as well

[crisp citrus]

Sorry kind of spam

[leaden gulch]

A lemony boi

just quickly captured in the eyepiece

[little moon]

Jesus f'ing christ

What in the world is that disconnection

(Not my image)

[balmy gale]

whos?

[steel widget]

Comer snapped :(

[leaden gulch]

controller disconnected

[stuck knot]

Nice combo!

Too much solar wind? 😮

[crisp citrus]

What did it break apart

[crisp citrus]

Ye

[stuck knot]

I have seen a great image from czechia that shows a similar structure

My framing is way too tight for this 😄

[steel widget]

Woahhh what bortle is that??

[stuck knot]

They took it by Seč lake in czechia, so I'd say 2-3

They wrote about taking it https://www.petrhoralek.com/?p=25820&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExeENIakI1WFFEdnF0UU1XMgEeSOdmtF9QxAczkHLrmzEHsUOb5tYRIDitm6Nmh8RyaRNkZ03RsaSaOej2iGU_aem_O1r5iQL-eKhB02sedrnjyw

[crisp citrus]

Nice

[stuck knot]

NIIIICE

Beautiful structure

what's the exposure time?

[knotty crane]

Short and sweet.

18x 120s Lum
6x 60s ea RGB

[stuck knot]

Very nice

[wild sequoia]

a6 activuties

[delicate stone]

Clouds

[knotty crane]

A6 likely peaking between 3rd and 4th magnitude. This week will likely provide the best views/captures of comet Lemmon.

[steel widget]

Oh yes can't wait for the best views of the comet, 😍😍

[delicate stone]

Love it

[wild sequoia]

what views

[knotty crane]

RIP to all yalls

[compact mesa]

rip to me as well

[stuck knot]

yeeeeeee

I had one evening to see it xD But there were polar lights and meteor shower too, so it was okay

[wild sequoia]

enjoy 1 second crappy a6 video because the 14 second one is too big to send

wait I think discord compression merged the comet with the clouds lmfao

here's a screenrecpord of part of the 14 second one
a6 is the dim fuzzy patch in the bottom right

[crude sky]

How do I watch orionids? Any tips

[fierce grotto]

a simple 3 minute stack with a dslr and 50mm on a tripod

naked eye in a b8 is underwhelming

[knotty crane]

just a hint of the tail disconnect

[stuck knot]

niiice

Is this from the weekend? I saw in a monday photo that the tails are pointing different directions now

[celest pewter]

I've managed to capture Lemmon's cometary jets

[stuck knot]

From saturday! My goal was to have both tails visible, mission succesful 8D

[jaunty spear]

hey

would any deep sky or comet person want to try and process my comet lemmon stack? ive got 0 expierence in deep sky detail extracking and i think my data has decent potential, if you do lemme know ill send the exported tiff, thanks

[balmy gale]

gween

[steel widget]

Send it over I'll give it a shot

[jaunty spear]

Want me to email it to you?

[steel widget]

Just upload it to wetransfer or Google drive and share the link

[jaunty spear]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NB_7xdQE3g_8kIav5UVaukuhDuEx9tt2/view?usp=sharing

lemme know if this works

[lucid copper]

anyone experienced with stacking comet lights files? ive been trying for days, following along tutorials etc, but i cant get a single good stack. Im still pretty new to this, but i managed to capture around 500 subs and around 400 in the same session.

[lavish lark]

what are you stacking in?

[lucid copper]

I tried Sirill, DSS, ASS4, Seti. But all gave me various (bad) results :/

[lavish lark]

are you going for a star trailed image or one where they're normal?

[lucid copper]

I tried both, also tried to follow along several tutorials for DSS and Sirill

[jaunty spear]

I used deep sky stacker for the first time ever yesterday and it worked

[lucid copper]

DSS spits out a horrible result, the comet is more a line even after doing exactly as shown, and sirill gives me a bugged FIT. The light files are all alright, i checked them.

[lucid copper]

how many subs did you use?

[jaunty spear]

You have to use Comet mode

[lavish lark]

would you mind sending the subs my way?

[jaunty spear]

Only 50

[lucid copper]

hold on imma dm you the google drive link, gonna upload them quick

[lavish lark]

cool

[jaunty spear]

You need to use comet mode in dss

And manually locate the comet in each sub

[lavish lark]

not each

only 2

[jaunty spear]

Oh bruh

[lavish lark]

more probably makes it slightly more accurate but you just need an early sub and a late sub

[jaunty spear]

I need to stick to planetary 😭

[lucid copper]

currently uploading, around 400 subs. MAybe thats also too much?

[lucid copper]

tried it too, but the comet still is like a line, even after locating the comet in every single frame.

[lavish lark]

I don't think that would be all too big of a problem

[jaunty spear]

I need someone to edit mine now c

I’m not cut out for deep sky

[lavish lark]

did you remember to actually set it to stack on the comet

[lucid copper]

100000%, since i tried about 10x already :/ Its my first time stacking a comet, im prolly messing up somewhere

[jaunty spear]

Liked you click the setting that says stack comet and not both or just stars

[lucid copper]

yep, even tho i also tried the both option once or twice, but the result was always the same sadly.

[lavish lark]

wack

[static sage]

ged fit?

[lucid copper]

what?

[static sage]

wdym by a bugged fit

[lucid copper]

when i crop it in sirill, it changes the stretch, gets horrible noisy and artifacts show up.

which arent there before cropping

[static sage]

can you show a screenshot of it before and after cropping with just autostretch

[lucid copper]

sure, mind if i Dm you? i cant post photos here.

[static sage]

yeah no problem, forgot the image restriction was still in place

[lavish lark]

@cursive elm protostar premium this gamer

[static sage]

or @graceful bay

mr online mod

[lucid copper]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jvvbICAt70HFJSoZQBGt9X5UYktOwCZK?usp=sharing @lavish lark

upload just finished

[graceful bay]

zegery

[static sage]

gregory

[steel widget]

please share the unedited stack, not the final PNG

[wild sequoia]

the only two I can send

in each of them a6 is either below or on the centre

[topaz mauve]

Guys should I shoot the A6 with my roki 135 f2 and my asi 533mm or should I use my evostar 72 ed which is 430 mm in FL?

[lavish lark]

what bortle?

[jaunty spear]

Shoot it with anything

I did this in B5

[lavish lark]

ill say 135mm

[knotty crane]

300mm

Rokin'On 135

[lavish lark]

welp, idk what you did wrong but heres my stack of it

unless you like, didnt save it the comet position, i have no clue

autostretch

[jaunty spear]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DHz8F8Q3g3W9BDMBujsJStyvxIdk8Ue1?usp=sharing

here is my comet

and star stack from tonight if anyone wants to play with it

[topaz mauve]

About 5/6 but I live literally 500meters from the beach where the comet sets so there should be way less LP. In fact last year when I images I think it was A3 I went to the beach and I could see it naked eye easily.

[topaz mauve]

I would but I only have like one night or so

[topaz mauve]

Ok thanks!

Also the 430mm is f6

[jaunty spear]

I did above

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DHz8F8Q3g3W9BDMBujsJStyvxIdk8Ue1?usp=sharing

Here ya go

[balmy gale]

fellow west coast?

[knotty crane]

Def brighter tonight

[balmy gale]

is that an artifact to the bottom right of the core?

the changing color and tail is cool to see

[lucid copper]

Amazing! Do you by any chance also have a way to add the stars?

[topaz mauve]

I live in Italy but yeah on the west part

[wild sequoia]

c

[crisp citrus]

Is that m51

[wild sequoia]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1186354651537354753/1378320401469276231/image0.gif

[jaunty spear]

holy

[proud dew]

What's that meteor train, it's the second image I've seen of it

[knotty crane]

It's the vapor trail of a meteor.

[compact mesa]

Guys i got lucky, im shooting it rn

[river patio]

Is 🍋 naked eye in Bortle 7?

[lavish lark]

no, i think a reasonable test for a6 visibility is if you can see andromeda

[compact mesa]

I didnt see it at all in bortle 4 so no

[river patio]

Damn you right. I'm getting it with the camera but no naked eye. Well, I won't complain.

[lavish lark]

should be easy in binoculars if you have any of those

[fierce grotto]

this is so cool its like wrapping around it

[proud dew]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HxKxU9iv4/
here is the source i found later

[fierce grotto]

peaaaak

[compact mesa]

6min of data hence why It lacks colors shot at 50mm

[wild sequoia]

so thats why a6 always looks white in my shoddy binoc videos

[compact mesa]

probably

[wild sequoia]

ion captured enough a6 for it to a6 properly

[compact mesa]

Well you can see a slight very slight green color

[wild sequoia]

ehh yeah I see it

[compact mesa]

I should do it again at 200mm

I've also had very limited time because of clouds

[wild sequoia]

I've had literally no time bc of clouds

[compact mesa]

that is just 6min of data lol

[knotty crane]

Shoot it through the clouds

[wild sequoia]

i live in the uk

do you REALLY think that would be possible

[jaunty spear]

Plane flew infront of Lemmon the other night

[stuck knot]

I always wonder how much planes turn or if it's just perspecive playing tricks on me

[knotty crane]

Not my image but yeah, lots have clouds and they still make a shot. Never know what it's going to look like. Could be very interesting. Or not. But can only shoot for an hour or so... Not a huge time investment.

[lavish lark]

c/2025 k1 has returned from the sun and is now about 10th mag with bright tails. hopefully someone with a color cam images it soon

[compact mesa]

2 second exposures do look underwhelming but you can see it move

[velvet cipher]

Oh wow

I don’t think it’s gonna look nice imaged from bortle 9😭

[knotty crane]

It will look worse from bortle never imaged it.

[jaunty spear]

^^^^^^

[topaz fulcrum]

tic tac toe

[jaunty spear]

🗣️

That tail is gonna grow

[velvet cipher]

yes ur right

[velvet cipher]

it is??

when will it be the brightest actually

thats everything i got on the comet lemmon through the smog and bortle 9, about 12 minutes here

with my fma180 pro + p1 neptune 664c

[jaunty spear]

I was rhyming lol

[velvet cipher]

oh lol alr

[velvet cipher]

here is a sub from a dslr with an 85mm lens on that was shooting at the same time with the main rig

there is a plane

[compact mesa]

holy light pollution

tbf my south does look exactly like that

[velvet cipher]

my only image of c2023a3 has clouds but it has an insane backstory to it

god made a cool perspective here

[knotty crane]

That's fire tho

[velvet cipher]

it is, and the best thing an astrophotograph could have is a story behind it

[knotty crane]

My A3 has a pretty cool story to go with it

[velvet cipher]

if you're open to share it i'd like to hear

these stories are always fun

[steel widget]

visible from the north hemisphere?

[lavish lark]

yep

[steel widget]

ooo

[lavish lark]

low in the east shortly before sunrise

[steel widget]

how long will it stay visible? 👀

[lavish lark]

month give or take, but not that long while looking like this

[steel widget]

these clouds better clear up istg

[knotty crane]

The weekend weather pattern of October 13th, 2024 was perfect and gave me the opportunity to try and capture the comet C/2023 A3. I was planning to travel to a dark site, but it was surrounded by low hills and mountains. I instead made a last-minute decision to travel to the top of a mountain in northern Nevada. At 8,200 feet above sea level, I figured this location would offer better visibility of a comet that was already very low on the horizon.

The decision paid off, presenting not just striking views of local visas but A3 Tushishan as well.

As dusk arrived, three generations of my family were blessed with the naked-eye visibility of comet C/2023 A3. As I was joined by my father and son, making it a true "once-in-a-lifetime" experience.

[lavish lark]

i got a pretty similar a3 inage on the 14th

[knotty crane]

My humble cell phone capture that evening

[lavish lark]

wait you have a kid?

[knotty crane]

I have 3 😎

[lavish lark]

i forget that some people here arent teenagers sometimes

or like, above the age of 25

[knotty crane]

I think the same thing when I go to a star party or outreach... I'm like whoooa, these guys are all retired lol

[lavish lark]

lol

[velvet cipher]

that is beautiful man

thank you for sharing

[knotty crane]

I wish I had a wider lens but this was made that night at 270mm with 22 minutes of data

[velvet cipher]

thats sick

i love a3

my first comet actually

that i conciously knew about

[knotty crane]

I'd done a couple previous but nothing of that magnitude

[lavish lark]

neowise was my first

but i was too busy being 12 to get a good picture of it lol

[knotty crane]

Got a small capture of ZTF and Mars which was kinda neat

[lavish lark]

missed ztf, and leonard, and nishimora or however its spelled

[knotty crane]

Same but was Halleys 😂

[lavish lark]

hey at least you have a half decent chance of a second go around for halley

[knotty crane]

True

[leaden gulch]

Me at 28 💀

[lavish lark]

old

[knotty crane]

young

[neon summit]

Same here, I am apart of an astronomy club and almost everyone is above the age of 70

[lavish lark]

wtf its red?????????

[little moon]

Yeah

K1 has finally shown its true colors (lol), and I am stunned at how unusual it is

Even mono channels show that the gas tail is red

I don't think we've ever seen something like this so clearly before

Probably a comet very rich in sodium or something of that kind

[wild sequoia]

maybe, iirc Mercury has sodium tail of a similar colour

[knotty crane]

Speaking of red. I had a botched data set where I was left with R and lum... So I ran as RLL.

[wild sequoia]

a6 activitirs

[neon summit]

I got both the comets, and K1 for some reason, never tried processing a comet so this will be fun

[little moon]

I suggest you try A6 first bcs K1's gas tail is pretty unusual

[neon summit]

And smol

A6 is the best one in the pack, I could get nice structure in a preview shot

[wild sequoia]

k1 thinks astronomy is a scam made vy telescope companies to sell more telescopes so its messing with us

[little moon]

Lol

Yea that orange gas tail is so insane

[little moon]

https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/topic/983444-c2025-k1-atlas-is-not-ordinary/

[lavish lark]

https://cometary.org/@qicheng/statuses/01K8XJZGM72QF043GMK2HZPYC3 3I GOT RECOVERED AND ITS MAG 10

[wild sequoia]

a6 activities

[compact mesa]

please ignore the stars and the fact that that is just 3min of data

[lavish lark]

this is week is pretty much the last chance for northerners to get a good look at lemmon, about a week and a bit left.

[neon summit]

I have one clear sky and a dream

[wild sequoia]

i have chances at moderately clear skies, just enough height to see over the garage and a wish to catch it on the day of perehelion (8th)

[river patio]

I'm gonna try to photograph 🍋 with my mak tonight. I'm crazy 🤪

[knotty crane]

Nah, it's pretty bright. A mak would probably do good.

[knotty crane]

Initial reports coming in that R2 SWAN has fragmented. Still pending confirmation.

[steel widget]

i broke it, sorry

[leaden gulch]

stop destroying the environment

[crisp citrus]

Yoy must be fun at parties(fr)

[leaden gulch]

Hey, I've been to like, two parties and I was very fun there.

[crisp citrus]

Cool

[crisp citrus]

What yo ig

[steel widget]

can it still be considered the environment if its outside Earth?

[leaden gulch]

The universe is our environment

[wild sequoia]

explodes comet with mind

[long dawn]

Awesome stuff, always interested in these close up views, no one ever really did these, the only person to attempt this was from Peter ceravolo and his team in 1996 with hyakutake. I wish to do one like this, catching the dust tail jet streams and the ion tail like what you caught in that image. Great stuff

[knotty crane]

Still early in the detection phase but new comet candidate (identified as solar system object gb00810), detected November 2nd.

https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/topic/gb00810/116113674

[steel widget]

another comer spawned

[delicate stone]

Those spawners are out of control with low light levels 😄

[leaden gulch]

hey no torches we're in a comet drought

[steel widget]

he says after getting 2 imageable comets in one month

[leaden gulch]

we'll be out of a comet drought when we get another McNaught or two in the northern hemisphere

[lavish lark]

*6 this month

[wild sequoia]

wait six??
ik 3i atlas, lemon and k1 but what the others

[wild sequoia]

he says after g3, a6, k1, 3i atlas, r2, f2 etc

[wild sequoia]

oh wait r2 swan as well

[lavish lark]

210p, 24p, swan, c/2025 t1

[leaden gulch]

Man y'all have low standards

[wild sequoia]

24p??

[leaden gulch]

I'm talking Neowise and Tsuchinshan–ATLAS tier

[wild sequoia]

g3:

even tho it hung around the sun it went crazy bright

[lavish lark]

a comet doesnt have to be naked eye to be cool photgraphically

[leaden gulch]

Yeah but seeing a comet naked eye is undeniably cooler

[wild sequoia]

true but naked eye only restricts your choices by a lot

[leaden gulch]

What I mean is compare this century to the last one and we're behind on bright comets (especially in the northern hemisphere)

[wild sequoia]

we're only a quarter of the way into this century ofc we'll be behind

[leaden gulch]

That's after accounting for that

[lavish lark]

i mean, i think we're about on par

[wild sequoia]

yeah I checked and only one great comet in the first 25 years of the 20th century (1910)

[lavish lark]

early 1900s had the great daylight comet, halley, and mellish, even accounting for me missing a few from that time there weren't all too many

[wild sequoia]

o

1900s did get halley twice didn't it

did iy

it*

[lavish lark]

weve had mcnaught, 2011 l4, lovejoy, neowise, a3, g3

ok yea that is a lot of southern comets

[leaden gulch]

Maybe the 20th century had more than its fair share of spectacular comets (Ikeya-Seki, Hyakutake, Hale–Bopp)

Kohoutek

[wild sequoia]

those 3 are later in the 20th century tho

1960s and after

[lavish lark]

kohoutek wasnt actually that horrible of a comet lol

it was just overhyped

probably like, comparable to neowise

[leaden gulch]

yup (1910 and 1986)

[leaden gulch]

It would have been a damn good comet for us imagers today

[lavish lark]

yep

[wild sequoia]

lucky bastards
we only get halley once

damn you autocorrect

[leaden gulch]

I remember attempting to see C/2011 L4 and failing

[wild sequoia]

I had to type halley about 10 times

[lavish lark]

yea l4 kinda sucked

[leaden gulch]

My first comet was Lovejoy, but not the sungrazer

[lavish lark]

2014 q2?

or 2013 r1?

damn lovejoy has found a lot of comets

[wild sequoia]

i should've tried seeing l4 instead of being 2 🥀

[leaden gulch]

I believe it was this one, I remember it being in Taurus when I saw it

[wild sequoia]

i swear atlas just finds all of them now 😭
tho this year was weird we had like 5

that weren't atlas

[leaden gulch]

Soon every southern comet will have one name

[leaden gulch]

Rubin

[wild sequoia]

that's a lot of atlas

[leaden gulch]

I also can't wait until we get GOES comets

[wild sequoia]

what's thar

[leaden gulch]

Well since SOHO is getting retired soon and we have a coronagraph on GOES-19, it's only a matter of time before it starts being the main source of sungrazer discoveries

[wild sequoia]

c 2028 a2 goes (towards the sun)

[steel widget]

from october 18th

[lavish lark]

im waiting for the punch comets

it has a wider coronagraph at a similar level of detail

[long dawn]

YES

EXACTLY

that’s what I want

Another mcnaught

I guess my essence has stayed until I came back

[wild sequoia]

a6 perehelion today

[steel widget]

What mag? 👀

[wild sequoia]

idk theskylive keeps saying its dimmer than it actually is

and stellarium completely shit itself

telling me its mag 6

[steel widget]

The Dutch say its 4.7 rn

[strange lily]

bobs house

[lavish lark]

wjat?

[strange lily]

here

your house

[long dawn]

4.6-4.7

Not worth imaging anymore imo, ion tail is just a straight line and the weather has been pissing me off

[lavish lark]

id say its worth imaging because its not coming back

if you havent got it already your basically doomed

[long dawn]

Trust me, It’s been said to me a thousand times, I will say it a thousand times; yes every comet is respectfully different from others but the key thing is we will have way better comets than this

[lavish lark]

yea but theyre in like, a while

[long dawn]

That’s the thing, this whole hobby is a waiting game if you haven’t noticed yet

[lavish lark]

if you have the means to shoot a comet if you haven't shot it already, but you choose not too, thats just odd

[long dawn]

Well of course I get that, I’m a big comet guy, but things happen, I missed this whole thing because of crappy weather, if any chance I would’ve captured it every night till it’s no longer visible

[lavish lark]

rip

[strange lily]

speciall collectors edition

[strange lily]

and?????

[velvet cipher]

3l atlas looks so cool

not my image

why dont people use kappa sigma clipping here and leave satellite trails?

[strange lily]

i think most scientific data has sigma clipping off

[velvet cipher]

huh

why?

[strange lily]

dunno

magbe to do with stacking soeed?

huh, it could aslo be to do with it could remove data

[wild sequoia]

it looks like a sputtering flame

[leaden gulch]

This might be a single sub considering how the stars aren't trailed.

[balmy gale]

just scooped a msm nomad advanced kit for 150$ usd, holy

now i just need another bright comet

[wild sequoia]

no comet above mag 10 appears in you sky for the next 17 years

[tawny elm]

op

[wild sequoia]

pa

[balmy gale]

https://tenor.com/view/omori-sunny-gif-23381885

[wild sequoia]

the comets are there for everyone else it's just for you they're invisible

[balmy gale]

https://tenor.com/view/the-voices-voices-in-my-head-voices-cat-gif-23453583

[neon summit]

https://tenor.com/view/cat-the-voices-jolly-christmas-gif-5774532700081404887

[wild sequoia]

https://tenor.com/view/deltarune-noelle-holiday-silly-noelle-goober-gif-1658351236888003313

[long dawn]

See this is why we can’t have nice things like comet mcnaught

[strange lily]

?

[tame minnow]

normal a6 and a6 with larson-sekanina filter applied to show cometary jets

[long dawn]

Awesome stuff, you can really see the what angle we have it at now

Date of capture?

[tame minnow]

25th of october

[tame minnow]

better one

[lavish lark]

k1, 20m in twilight

[strange lily]

cute :3

[lavish lark]

next time you have clear you should shoot it

[strange lily]

yea :(

[delicate stone]

It broke down 🙂

[steel widget]

is this comet aligned ?

[strange lily]

it spit in 3

[wild sequoia]

rip c 2025 k1

[lavish lark]

yes

[steel widget]

Woah omg I gotta image this

Double comer

[lavish lark]

triple actually

[steel widget]

@delicate stone if u don't image this, you owe me ur newt

[neon summit]

Looks like I’m missing this one, gotta love November

[delicate stone]

Cant even see it from my garden... fk that shit

[steel widget]

Guess I'm getting a new scope!!!

[delicate stone]

When?

[steel widget]

U can't even see it later on in the night?

[delicate stone]

Its cold and i cant stay up late

[compact mesa]

gosh I hate fog

[lavish lark]

not like tis gonna immediately disappear the moment it gets below 10th mag lol

people need to learn that its legal to shoot a comet past its prime, it'll probably be like 80% as cool

[compact mesa]

I remember shooting C/2023 A3 Tsuchinsan Atlas like below 10th mag and it still made me happy

[compact mesa]

Is the third fragment that spot in the middle?

[lavish lark]

yea

[compact mesa]

like between the other ones?

[lavish lark]

ye

my fwhm was barely enough to resolve it lol

[compact mesa]

I can see lol

wish I knew about that fragmentation earlier but the weather doesn't do the job either

[lavish lark]

yea ive been neglecting this thread

[compact mesa]

well I'm not saying its your fault just to be clear

[knotty crane]

3i ATLAS

[strange lily]

smol

[knotty crane]

1050mm too

[strange lily]

wow

he realy is a smol boi

[knotty crane]

i shoulda ran the 10"

But..
got a huge cloud bank rolling in
its humid
and below freezing

[strange lily]

a

disaster causing

[knotty crane]

Well try 3i again this morning

[delicate stone]

https://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/2025R3

@lavish lark What u think of this one for next year?

[lavish lark]

bad

[delicate stone]

Because?

[lavish lark]

when its high enough to image it only reaches a max of 7th mag (assuming curent brightness trends hold up) with a northern maximum elongation of only 33 degrees at highest (translates to being about 14 degrees high at end of astrodark)

the 2nd magnitude peak is exclusively based on forward scattering, which for an object with an effectively unknown dust content is a risky bet

it also might disintegrate beforehand

[delicate stone]

best to wait then

[lavish lark]

at least its not too far away

[velvet cipher]

what size and mag is 3i atlas right now?

i want to try it with my fma180 pro but i dunno if its worth it, will i get a tail?

[long dawn]

https://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/3I

Dimmer than 1-2 months ago at mag 12.4 but tail has a way better structure

[compact mesa]

that tail looked awesome on some images

[long dawn]

Very but takes a lot of integration

[lavish lark]

a small bit of tail probably

[round folio]

Most of those images were with rasa’s

[velvet cipher]

What was ur rig for this photo?

[knotty crane]

Askar 151PHQ with 2600mm

[velvet cipher]

That’s a good one

[knotty crane]

Yup. It's an exceptional copy at that.

[velvet cipher]

I dunno if I should even bother imaging it with my fma180 pro and a 664c, I wanted to see a tail but looking at how it’s going I dunno

[knotty crane]

pretty dim these days

[velvet cipher]

Yeah, if the core is that dim the tail must be even dimmer

I do have access to dark skies tho, bortle 4.5 towards the sea

[velvet cipher]

New comet

Best to be observed from southern hemisphere of course…

[steel widget]

Booo!

[knotty crane]

Is this C/2025 R3?

[lavish lark]

no

kruetz type comet

sungrazer

[knotty crane]

Ah yes i see it. Neat. Be fun to keep tabs and see if it survives it's trip.

[delicate stone]

[round folio]

how bright could it get?

[leaden gulch]

Per the chart, below mag 0

[lavish lark]

that chart isnt very accurate since it isnt really based on a whole lot. no kruetz has been discovered this far out ever (theres only been 2 others that got discovered in the 21st century (on the ground)), so the error bars are massive

[lavish lark]

into the negatives, like -5. but that is dependent on so many factors that we have no clue about rn

that brightness will only be when its extremely near the sun in the sky, just a few degrees

[round folio]

that means it must be a big comet

[lavish lark]

no not really

[round folio]

what constellation is it in rn

[leaden gulch]

I prefer to keep it safe in case it disappoints lol

[lavish lark]

yea, it'll suck for northerners anyway lol

[lavish lark]

it is 19th magnitude you are not catching it

[leaden gulch]

it's definitely in the southern hemisphere, probably pretty far south right now

Kreutz sungrazers basically come from the south ecliptic pole

god we need a balance patch to fix the discrepancy between the southern and northern skies

[lavish lark]

trueeeeee

[compact mesa]

another C/2024 G3 possibly?

[lavish lark]

maybe, much closer to lovejoy

[lavish lark]

for a bit of context on how not known this comet is, the SOHO spacecraft has observed 5000 kruetz comets fall into the sun, of those, 2 have been observed from the ground in this century, comet lovejoy in 2011, and comet s1 atlas in october 2024. neither were discovered particularly far away from the sun, and s1 was a weird outlier

[strange lily]

nerd!

[lavish lark]

:3

[round folio]

what does this mean about the new comet

[little moon]

Basically it means we have no clue on how bright it's going to get or how large it is

I suggest you check this post, it explains things really really well

https://x.com/JAtanackov/status/2012283238807482804

Jure Atanackov (@JAtanackov)

One thing about the new Kreutz comet: it currently appears intrinsically very faint, which implies it will not survive perihelion. But. This is uncharted territory. Never before has a Kreutz comet been tracked inbound as far as 2.0-2.5 AU from the Sun. It is possible the comet is

X · Jan 16, 2026, 9:58 PM

[stuck knot]

I wonder shy is so many more comets visible better from south hemisphere - why do they prefer to come from one hemisphere more than the other? 😄

[leaden gulch]

Kreutz sungrazers came from a larger parent comet that has a very southern orbit

[stuck knot]

Oh, they are fragments from a single large comet, that'd explain why it is so skewed 😄

[hoary basin]

W

[wild sequoia]

you guys already have the good stuff why do you need our comets too 😭

yall got milky way core, carina region, centaurus, lmc and smc, etc

Best we got is cygnus + rift and andromeda

(and triangulum but no1 cares abt triangulum)

[little moon]

I mean, tbf the comet might be acceptably visible around 20º N

[wild sequoia]

couldn't even make it out of the tropics 🥀

[little moon]

Yea

A perihelion in March would have allowed better visiblilty but oh well

[wild sequoia]

at least we get 19p... in like 2028 😭

[little moon]

If I'm lucky I may head to the canaries and give it a shot if it survives

[wild sequoia]

and i will be doing exams

[delicate stone]

And LDN1235 🤪

[long dawn]

Sun grazers are usually southern hemisphere visible

R3 is also a sungrazer but now in the negatives

What is with the weird ass name for this new comet?

[lavish lark]

the sungrazer? its just the designation before it gets a normal name

idk why theyre called that

[long dawn]

Officially called MAPS

If it’s bright enough we could see it in the daylight like mcnaught

Even the tail. My uncle saw the tail of McNaught on top of Haleakala over here on Maui

[lavish lark]

ah neat

[long dawn]

It’s perihilion is so close to the sun, it’s very likely it might not survive

But it’s now on van.buitenens website, -7.0

[wild sequoia]

MINUS SEVEN????

and OF COURSE ITS CLOUDY

wait that s in april

still

right before exams season of all times??

[long dawn]

Understand that it’s a sungrazer

-7 during perihilion

The orbit is so tight and so close to the sun that it will likely disintegrate but maybe would put up a good show before it does

[little moon]

Okay, I need to add some clarity with C/2026 A1

The thing is we have never observed a Kreutz Comet this far away

And they have suffered very unique conditions on their approaches to our solar system so we can't fully know how it's going to behave or how large it exactly is

Also, in case of survival, the peak brightness will last for considerably brief period of time, a few hours at most

Nonetheless, if the right conditions happen at the right time it could still be a pretty neat comet after perihelion

Also, I'd suggest a maximum northern latitude of around 25°N

Any more north than that and it may be complicated to observe

[compact mesa]

C/2024 G3 was -5 at perihelion

[little moon]

More like -3/-4

[compact mesa]

visible during daytime at least

[little moon]

Yea

Caught it myself

[compact mesa]

I only saw it on the SOHO images

[little moon]

I was pretty lucky, just focused on a distant olane and did a set of handheld images at approximately where I thought it would be

[round folio]

https://tenor.com/view/ishowspeed-ishowspeed-shocked-meme-funny-gif-16202716903781766308

[lavish lark]

theres like 10 magnitudes of wiggle room don't get too hyped

[round folio]

mag -17?

[lavish lark]

no

range is like -7 to 3

but idhdbdebdbd ehhhhhhh idkk

[round folio]

vro

[lavish lark]

we have a sample size of 0

comets are already evil to predict, this comet is of a rare ish subtype, with little good data available on it

theres several levels of uncertainty here

[strange lily]

nuh uhh, sample size of 1 :3

(current comet)

[strange lily]

are they learing from this comded

[distant crown]

@lavish lark what's the name of this comet?

[lavish lark]

c/2026 a1 MAPS

[distant crown]

Tyy

[fierce grotto]

diy coronagraph for this comet? thatd be a sick capture

[long dawn]

I’d say R3 panstarrs has a better chance of viewing than MAPS

It is a sun grazer but I’m sure before that it is visible in the northern hemisphere on the horizon before sunrise

[long dawn]

MAPS could be observed transitting the sun if you’re in the right location with a small few hour window. But I’m pretty sure it will be fried by the time it wraps around

[lavish lark]

id say theres a solid chance of it surviving, but theres also a solid chance of it dying

not really knowable at this point in time

[lavish lark]

sad that r3 has a pretty horrible viewing window for northerners

[long dawn]

No there’s a great chance of it dying unless the comet is big, it’s 0.005AU at perihelion

Its orbit is super tight

[lavish lark]

its a kruetz though

could do something similar to lovejoy

[long dawn]

I see, it is possible that the chunk from inside the Oort Cloud is big

[lavish lark]

?

[long dawn]

Could be possible that the comet is big

If the tail is long enough I could see it from Hawai’i before it wraps around

But I’m guessing MAPS will be disintegrated by the time it heads its way back to the Oort Cloud

[lavish lark]

its not an oort cloud comet it has a 900 something year orbit

idk what that counts as

[long dawn]

What’s your source? Most comets are typically from the Oort Cloud, from what I’ve heard they originate from the inside and a kreutz comet is stated to be a child from a big parent body that broke off

[lavish lark]

i suppose

[lavish lark]

i think that given the repeated fragmentation and extreme close passages to the sun, MAPS is not the same as a typical oort cloud object and shouldn't be labeled as such

[long dawn]

Then where could it originate from

[lavish lark]

idk

[lavish lark]

*adjusted

[long dawn]

What do you mean by repeated fragmentation

[long dawn]

Are there any scientific papers stating the orbit? Because a 900 year orbit is very suitable for an Oort Cloud originated comet

A kreutz is labelled often as a fragment from a larger parent and a break off could result as an extreme pass

[lavish lark]

oh i was unaware of that

[long dawn]

Anyhow Oort Cloud originated or not it still is an interesting one, maybe ISON potential

[lavish lark]

the progenitor fragmented, then the fragments fragmented

[long dawn]

I see

[little moon]

What happens with kreutz comets is that most of them have already done several very close laps around the sun and have lost most of their volatiles

In fact they are thought too have less volatiles than the average dynamically old comet

So kreutz comets are completely different from what you are saying

They still break most of the time, but with the forces they suffer it's a certainty pretty much. Every single kreutz conet has fragmented at some point of their approach

What we have to hope for is that this one fragments or disintegrates at the right moment

[wild sequoia]

yea pisces is just evil for us before sunrise
after sunset it's an absolute godsend tho

low ecliptic angle genuinely drives me insane

[long dawn]

Well in that case, repeated fragmentation is strong evidence that it couldn’t be from the Oort Cloud

[lavish lark]

which comet are you talking about when you say "it"

[long dawn]

maps

[lavish lark]

cool just making sure

[long dawn]

But R3 before its perihilion should be fairly bright and visible to the northern hemisphere so I’ll be heading out to Bortle 3 for that one

I got hopes for this one, should reach close or in the negatives

[lavish lark]

r3?

[long dawn]

Yeah

[lavish lark]

ig it could

but it wont be bright enough to image during daylight i reckon

[long dawn]

Mostly certain I’d say

[lavish lark]

i mean a3 wasnt, and that seems to be a much dustier object that was also a bit more active

*actually wait a3 was imaged during daylight a few times

[remote kite]

Lat 13°

[knotty crane]

https://cobs.si/comet/2688/

Comet C/2026 A1 (Maps)

https://theskylive.com/c2026a1-info

[proud dew]

is it even posible to shoot it this close to the sun? from space yea but here the atmosphere will out shine it unless it's lie mag -6

[compact mesa]

Risk it at your own discretion

[remote kite]

What is the magnitude of wierzchos???

[lavish lark]

6th mag rn

https://www.cobs.si/comet/2513/

theskyliveisbad

[wild sequoia]

imsohappy
c 2026 a1 perihelion during a school.hokiday for me

[compact mesa]

I can be able see it in the daytime although it should be too close

[wanton steppe]

https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K26/K26BK3.html

Potentially new interstellar comet

Eccentricity 1.77

[lavish lark]

observation arc is pretty short, most likely they just published a bad orbit

[wild sequoia]

waitvwheres c 2026 b1

[tall crane]

Looks to be down to .96 now? If I ca read the report correctly?

[wanton steppe]

Yeah, 1.77 is calculation mistake

So, its standart comet

[compact mesa]

does it get bright?

[wild sequoia]

i hope so

[compact mesa]

ok vanbuitenen still has the incorrect 1.77 dialed in

[wild sequoia]

rip

[lavish lark]

apparently the original orbit had an eccentricity of SEVENTEEN

[wild sequoia]

WHAT

[lavish lark]

3i atlas :3

[knotty crane]

24P/Schaumasse
2-2-26

[knotty crane]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6v7U1YGRQU

[compact mesa]

Is this your channel by any chance?

[knotty crane]

no it isnt

[compact mesa]

alright

Also neat bg galaxies on your 22P/Schaumasse picture

[knotty crane]

Yeah, there are a ton of PGC in there.

Made another capture but I don't think conditions were as favorable

[knotty crane]

This lightcurve of Comet C/2026 A1 is bonkers.

[round folio]

what

[steel widget]

Mag -40 😭 we're abt to get a 2nd sun

[lavish lark]

sun is -26, nearby stars are getting incinerated

[steel widget]

Safe to say clouds won't be an issue

[delicate stone]

you can image for once 😩😂

[static sage]

excuse me what 😭

[compact mesa]

Yeah, COBS is very optimistic

[proud dew]

we bout to be coocked alive

[wild sequoia]

whole solar system getting flashbanged with ts

[long dawn]

By the time of perihilion and Sun transit it’ll be night for me on my end sadly

Diagram obviously unrealistic but it’ll be in the negative magnitudes for less than a day I’d say

If it reaches -3 or higher it’ll be like seeing Venus in daylight which was fun to see naked eye

[proud dew]

I hear that it'll likely not survive that long

[long dawn]

Very likely, it’s perihilion is around 0.005 Au or closer I’m too lazy to check but if it’s not big enough there’s no chance of it surviving

[knotty crane]

matching its curve so far. interesting. I see captures are starting to come in showing a just a fuzzy green ball. Ill be keeping an eye on it and see if i can make a capture.

[lavish lark]

wheres the survives option

[proud dew]

Man I cant edit it 😕
If you think it'll survive just use emojis 🇸 🇺 🇷 🇼 🇮 🇻 🇪

[wild sequoia]

-50 is criminal

that's like what

uhh

NEARLY TWO BILLION TIMES THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE SUN 😭

-# i misread it as 18.5 billion instead of 1.85 billion lolll

specifically 1,850,120,435x as bright

[compact mesa]

there's like no way its going to happen

[wild sequoia]

ikr what is cobs on bro 💔

[compact mesa]

its super optimistic

[wild sequoia]

hell -10 is already optimistic

-50 is js wishful thinking atp

it would also fry the solar system

like all of it

mane shut up geminorum 😭 💔

-7 is like a first quarter moon is it not

oh -7 is a 1% waxing crescent

[compact mesa]

-4 is like C/2024 G3 level but -7 would be mad impressive

[round folio]

I read on Wikipedia that it may be the second fragment of the original Krutzs sungrazer as it is big and its orbit matches with the 371 ad comet

That means really bright

[little moon]

Definitely not that big at all

[round folio]

Might’ve read it wrong then

[little moon]

Wikipedia is probably not a good place to check that stuff

It's almost definitely quite larger than lovejoy

But in no way it's a big subfragment of the 371BC comet

Those were pressumably the comets of 1106 and another one that went by in that same century

MAPS looks to be a rather mid-sized fragment

[lavish lark]

the hell did you do to the screenshot

[remote kite]

Discord cropping

[proud dew]

I guess we're screwed

[wild sequoia]

it perehelions in the middle of the day for me aswell

I am getting flashbanged

[compact mesa]

I will see 2 suns

according to this poll

Well its gonna look cool on the SOHO

[long dawn]

Potential ison?

[delicate stone]

At peak mag near sun. Can you spit it with a fat dob?

spot^

[compact mesa]

I think its way too close to the sun

[delicate stone]

visible through solar filter?

[compact mesa]

I have no idea

[delicate stone]

one way to find out

[compact mesa]

Just dont remove it out of frustration

[round folio]

Make makeshift soho with a throwaway camera and slow scope

[compact mesa]

[lavish lark]

maps!

[compact mesa]

cute

There's some IC galaxies in that field rn

[knotty crane]

R3 PANSTARRS shaping up to be a decent looker

[lavish lark]

*max mag of probably 4th when actually observable

[knotty crane]

Well see how it pans out. I'll be keeping an eye (lens) on it.

[compact mesa]

any captures so far?

[lavish lark]

i got it jan 31st

[compact mesa]

Super interesting that it matches the curve so far

[lavish lark]

currently its 1.15 au from the sun and comets tend to slow down the curve at around 1 to 1.2 au, so we're nearing the end

i cant recall a comet of similar orbit that maintained that high a slope to perihelion

[compact mesa]

I'd expect a outburst

[lavish lark]

?, you think one is happening now or one will happen

[compact mesa]

will happen

[lavish lark]

ig it could happen but its not like a garentee

[compact mesa]

not a "has to" happen

[lavish lark]

fair

[compact mesa]

what is this guy btw? I've never seen the designation A before

or is it Asteroid?

[lavish lark]

hyperbolic asteroid

although i think that one is actually displaying minor cometary activity so its a misnomer

[compact mesa]

hmm okay

[balmy gale]

@lavish lark any norhtern hemi comets coming

[compact mesa]

C/2025 R3 before Perihelion

C/2026 A1 MAPS could become daytime visible

[lavish lark]

maps is at 10th mag rn, odds seem pretty good for its survival

[compact mesa]

R3 has made a jump by the looks of it

[lavish lark]

sure has, recent image of it (not mine lol)

[compact mesa]

that tail looks nice

[delicate stone]

What’s up for this year. Any cool comets coming by at night?

[compact mesa]

This guy up there, and the sungrazer

[compact mesa]

Do you know if that was an outburst or just the result of missing data?

[lavish lark]

doesnt seem like an outburst to me, this comet is just brightening really quick

[compact mesa]

Its making a show for sure

[compact mesa]

this one

[delicate stone]

If one gets to mag -17. You might be able to spot it near the sun with a solar filter?

[compact mesa]

at least its not -50 anymore

[lavish lark]

odds are its getting to more like -8 absolute max

[compact mesa]

and -8 is insane already

[lavish lark]

so not solar filter visible

[delicate stone]

-8 is awesome. But yeah i doubt it will be visible

[lavish lark]

yea, more reasonable estimate is like -5 but nobody knows for sure

hell it could completely die and suck and only be -1

[delicate stone]

bro gonna outshine venus for a bit

[lavish lark]

yea

[compact mesa]

remember was it C/2025 S1

[lavish lark]

*2024 s1

[compact mesa]

that guy that disintegrated

[lavish lark]

yea

[long dawn]

Looks like just an ion tail

[lavish lark]

probably because it is one

[long dawn]

I was hoping for a nice dust tail but beggars can’t be choosers

[lavish lark]

it can develop one later at least like a6

[wild sequoia]

that says -99

[compact mesa]

no, that's the perihelion date marked in red freaking out

[wild sequoia]

rip

[lavish lark]

16 dyas unilt maps perihelio!

[round folio]

do you think its gonna survive

[lavish lark]

paint i have no gosh darn clue

[compact mesa]

It looked tiny on some pictures i've seen

[compact mesa]

I think it could do a C/2024 S1 move

[leaden gulch]

-8 would be visible by blocking the sun with a building

[knotty crane]

Sounds like C/2026 A1 MAPS is on its way to disintegration.

[leaden gulch]

source?

[leaden gulch]

Ah I thought you meant there were images of it falling apart already

[lavish lark]

that paper uses an outdated nucleus size and also ignores the fact that maps is a kruetz comet?!?

[little moon]

Yeah

The paper is well done but as bob said there are many variables that haven't been taken into account

First of all- maps was measured to be 400m wide by JWST

Ppl say it's smaller than lovejoy but I shall remind that lovejoy was NOT directly meassured like MAPS was, so I wouldn't be surprised if MAPS was still larger

In any case, yeah, kreutz comets are quite almost literally built different

If average comets are hard to predict, a kreutz comet is like playing bingo

They ARE much more resillient than the average comet though.

But anyway

For these guys it's a game of patience until it's at perihelion at this point

[leaden gulch]

Literally survival of the fittest - all the weaker fragments have already been smoked by previous encounters with the sun

[little moon]

That’s logic though, smaller fragments are only a few meters wide

[leaden gulch]

Sky & Telescope has a good graphic: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/latest-news-on-kreutz-sungrazing-comet-c-2026-a1-maps/

[little moon]

Oh yea

Been following that guy’s research since tsuchinshan-atlas

Kreutz comets are much more of a míster y though

Because up until earlier this month, MAPS was brighter than usual due to many possible reasons- for one time we try understanding this family, we find an exception since this one has been around the sun one less time

Yeah, it’s full of surprises

[compact mesa]

yeah that jump is really notable

[little moon]

Oh the jump is typical

I’m talking a bit more about the stalling lately

[compact mesa]

ah yeah

[little moon]

Kreutz comets should be more depleted of gas

So I hope that’s why this one has stalled- because of having more volatiles than the rest of kreutz and losing most of them

Instead of something more catastrophic

[compact mesa]

like it spinning itself up and tearing apart before perihelion

[little moon]

But tbh finding patterns on these guys is almost impossible, so we’ll have to wait until next week When It approaches The Sun at its fullest

[little moon]

Yup

That’s also What happened With C/2024 S1

[compact mesa]

Oh i thought it was just too small

[little moon]

So yeah, even without the one less orbit arguement they still go all around

[little moon]

That’s another possible reason

We can’t fully know

Both have been theorised

[compact mesa]

fair enough

[little moon]

MAPS looks much more stable visually, but we don’t know just how much

The stalls are weird

And just now It’s gone down (brightened) a magnitude in like a day

Which could be finally the perihelion brightening or an outburst

I’m kinda hoping images come in, but it’s getting harder and harder now

[compact mesa]

really difficult since it sits in the constellation Cetus

[little moon]

Yeah

Atp only southern scopes can handle it decently

Someone caught it in AZ but yea

[wild sequoia]

o

[leaden gulch]

I wonder if it's got a baked crust that's gonna split open and release a bunch of volatiles when it gets hot enough

[compact mesa]

Has anyone here found out what the reported issue is on C/2026 A1 Maps?

[knotty crane]

C/2025 R3 PANSTARS is looking pretty good with a loooong ion tail

[compact mesa]

yes, I've seen some nice pictures

[knotty crane]

conditions were pretty poor for me. Lum data only. ~45 minutes. 414mm fl

[steel widget]

damn thats a lotta satellites

[knotty crane]

so bad. worst ive ever seen lol

single 180s lol

[compact mesa]

holy satellites

[topaz fulcrum]

180s as in 180 satellites?

[river patio]

So if MAPS gives us an espectacle, will it only be after perihelion?

[compact mesa]

For northern hemisphere ppl after the 5th of April

[compact mesa]

https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/

A1 MAPS visible in LASCO imagery

we'll see what happens with it

[compact mesa]

I have a feeling it might break since it started to release gases all over the place

[lavish lark]

?

that horizontal line is from optics crap

[compact mesa]

No, have a look at the movie thingy

[obsidian ledge]

meow

[obsidian ledge]

that what ur talkin about?

[compact mesa]

yea

you see that

[obsidian ledge]

thats a support truss 😭

it holds the thing blocking the sun

[compact mesa]

Nooooo wait

look at the comet bru

the nucleus is not smooth, its releasing gases all over the place

[obsidian ledge]

a

@lavish lark say smart words

[lavish lark]

the oval bit?

[compact mesa]

yea

[lavish lark]

that is also a camera artifact from glare

[compact mesa]

look at the movie theater

you can literally see it getting stronger

[lavish lark]

https://ccor.nrl.navy.mil/realtime-movie this is a different newer spacecraft that doesnt have that artifact as much

[lavish lark]

its getting brighter (yay!) and getting closer to the pylon and doing wack ass diffraction things

[obsidian ledge]

i love diffraction :D

[leaden gulch]

How did Lovejoy look at that distance?

[little moon]

Diffraction caused by the pylon

[little moon]

Yep

[little moon]

It looked quiye larger, but

We have ro take inro account that maps is somewhat behind the sun, while lovejoy was in front

Geometry caused significant forward scattering

Also since MAPS has approached when we are almost in the plane of the Kreutz orbit, its tail is more narrow

Neutralising Lovejoy's forward scattering, they are actually quite on-par

[compact mesa]

So its gonna swing around in front which is super interesting

[little moon]

Probably not at all

It will have lost its tail by then to begin with, and perihelion fading will make it unobservable

[compact mesa]

yeah it should lose its tail and then like get a new one

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/ccor-1-coronagraph-experimental

looking at it right now is nice

hard to determine the nucleus

[wild sequoia]

THIS HAS TO BE RAGEBAIT

THE ONLY DAY THE COMET IS THERE ITS CLOUDY

[compact mesa]

fingers crossed it survives lol

[wanton steppe]

F

It not survive

[compact mesa]

Oh so i was not tripping that I literally saw it get smaller

[compact mesa]

can you give the source?

[little moon]

Looks rough

Our Best chances are that

1. The comet detached from it’s tail early
2. The occultation disk caused the fading

Still It doesn’t look too good. I’d wait until like 6h from now perhaps, but yeah…

[compact mesa]

I have a feeling it broke around that time or maybe its the diffraction again

[little moon]

Seeing those images It’s very unclear

RAW files are more favored to the first, but idk

[compact mesa]

We'll see

shouldnt it briefly show up on the right side before swinging around again?

[little moon]

Nah, in case of survival it's already done that and it's too close.

Also perihelion fading would have made it impossible

[compact mesa]

Something emerged from the sun on the right side where the comet should be

Its visible in the CCOR craft

[little moon]

H u h

What timestamp does the exposure have

[compact mesa]

this is the negative

maybe its the leftovers from the tail

would make sense

[little moon]

Uhhh

I'll check in a bit

[compact mesa]

It cant be a flare or CME

[little moon]

Can't it?

Seeing the high quality video it really looks like the starter of a CME

And MAPS should be emerging from the other side anyway

[compact mesa]

I didnt see anything on the SOHO

[little moon]

SOHO's cameras aren't sending anything rn

Last image is from 5h ago

[compact mesa]

ah 15:24

no wonder

nothing on GOES either