After almost two weeks of clouds and bad luck in searching for this comet, I’ve finally succeeded in imaging comet Catalina.
After imaging together with my wife another event, a transit of the International Space Station over the Moon (which will be posted shortly), we’ve decided to get towards the town of Fundulea, some 40 kilometers East from our location, to get ahead of the clouds. While setting our equipment in a field there, and waiting for the comet to rise, the clouds made a destructive appearance and closed the skies. “No luck this morning” we thought.
On the way back, almost while we were arriving at our home, we saw a small break in the clouds, just beneath Venus, where the comet was located.
A short stop on the side of the road and the mount plus a small refractor were assembled in no time, thanks to team work.
Looking through the finder I’ve spotted the comet which was nicely visible as a small diffuse patch of light with a defined stellar nucleus.
Only nine shots were possible due both to clouds and the advancing morning light. Despite all that, the two tails of the comet are visible.
Equipment: Teleskop Service APO 65Q, F/6.5 (420mm F.L.) and Canon 550D on the EQ-6 mount. Only 9 frames, each a 15 second exposure at ISO 3200.
And a slightly cropped version, showing the nucleus and a small star nearby:
Now I’m waiting for a better morning to get a truly nice shot of this comet. It deserves a better view…
maximus photography 