Comet Erasmus (C/2020 S3) on Nov 22, 2020

Comet Erasmus (C/2020 S3) on Nov 22, 2020, 4:50 AM to 5:40 AM. 50×60 sec sub-images captured in SharpCap 3.2, QHY183c at -20C cooling, Gain 20, Offset 200, Optolong L-eNhance filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, dark, flat, bias calibration, Metro area, Bortle 7-8 zone, clear and average transparency, seeing was poor for comet elevation (under 12 degrees.)  Star-Freeze version.

Comet Erasmus (C/2020 S3) on Nov 22, 2020, 4:50 AM to 5:40 AM. 50×60 sec sub-images captured in SharpCap 3.2, QHY183c at -20C cooling, Gain 20, Offset 200, Optolong L-eNhance filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, dark, flat, bias calibration, Metro area, Bortle 7-8 zone, clear and average transparency, seeing was poor for comet elevation (under 12 degrees.)

New comet discovered in September, 2020 in the morning sky at twilight.  Very low and very hard to image from the metro area I’m in.  I used an Optolong L-eNhance filter, which helped beat back the terrible LP I had to image through when it was less than 12 degrees above the horizon.

 

Running Man Nebula and The Orion Nebula Mosaic

2-Panel Mosaic of the Running Man Nebula and The Orion Nebula, taken Nov 18-19, 2020. About 140×30 sec for Running Man panel and 169×30 sec plus 134 minutes from Nov 22, 2020 for the Orion Nebula. QHY183c at -20C, Gain 37, Offset 200, L-eNhance Filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6.

Gain was too high for this project.  The over-saturated areas caused column/row artifacts which created dark horizontal bands on either side of the brightest part of the core.  It was difficult to deal with in post-processing.  Next time, I want to try some low-gain, longer exposures instead to see if the banding problem goes away.

For fun, I combined this image with my M42 project image that included all my best data to date.   Here is the results of that mix:

M42 Project – Best image data as of Nov 2020.