Astroblog: Comet 252P in the tail of the Scorpion (morning, 26 March 2016)

Monday, March 28, 2016

Comet 252P in the tail of the Scorpion (morning, 26 March 2016)


252P/LINEAR taken at 5:00 am AEDST 26/3/16. The image is a stack of 15x 60 second luminance exposures from iTelescope T12 at Siding Spring Observatory. MEDIAN Z projection used on the stack. Click to embiggen.	Same as before but a MAX Z projection on 8 of the 15 frames used to show the track of the comet. Click to embiggen.

Comet 252P remains elusive for me from my home. The morning of the 26th it was just near Lesath and Shalula, the two bright stars in the sting of the Scorpions tail (and the two bright stars in the images above). However it was raining here in Adelaide. Fortunately iTelescope at Siding Spring Observatory was clear, and I was able to get these shots of comet 252P.

I used a MEDIAN Z projection registered on the comet to bring the comet out from the background stars, and a MAXIUM Z projection with the images registered on the stars to show the movement of the comet.