| NOTES |
DATE:
|
Friday, March 22, 2013 |
TIME:
|
9:08 pm EDT
|
CAMERA:
|
Canon
EOS 550D (T2i) |
EXPOSURE:
|
6 seconds @ ISO 1600 |
LOCATION:
|
Richland Township Park |
| MOUNT: | Manfrotto stationary tripod |
INSTRUMENT:
|
Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens set at 86mm (f/5.6) |
PROCESSING:
|
Levels
adjusted (slightly) with Adobe Photoshop CS3. Noise Ninja applied. |
COMMENTS:
|
Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) was discovered on June 6, 2011 by the
1.8-meter Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System
(Pan-STARRS) atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. Pan-STARRS came
within 1.09 Astronomical Units (AU) of Earth on March 5, 2013 and reach
perihelion (closest to the Sun, about 50 million kilometers) on March
10th.
This was my first chance to capture some images of
Pan-STARRS since the weather in West Michigan has been cloudier than
usual. It was easy to find in 7×50 binoculars, but I could never spot
it with the unaided eye. The image above displays the coma and
fan-shaped dust tail. It was only 6° above the WNW horizon and never
visible under truly dark conditions (sunset wasn't until 7:57 pm EDT). |
|
