C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) 2024-May-02 Dan Bartlett

C_2021_S3_PanSTARRS_C14HyperS_asi2600mcP_106x120sec_2024_05_02_030559PDT_JuneLake_California_USA_DEBartlett

Five nights of data watching, 11th magnitude, comet C/2021 S3 Pan-STARRS travel through the dust and gas rich background of Cygnus. Here is night 4 of this travelog from a "close-in" perspective. The comet's tail seem to travel through the propeller nebula during this 3.5 hour stacking. However the two bladed "propeller" of gas is highly obscured due to the richness of the surrounding Cygnus Milky Way. This comet image was actually a joy to process normally owing to the abundance of data, usually not afforded when capturing comets.

Full Resolution Image: https://astrob.in/k96w7v/C/

Observational details:
Backyard setup
scope: C14 HyperStar fl728mm D356mm
exposure: 106 x 120 sec
Seeing: 4/5
Transparency 9/10
Observer: DEBartlett
Place: June Lake_California USA

Image Info (Processed images):
Projection ............... Gnomonic
Projection origin ........ [2963.583206 1926.081984] px -> [RA: 20 16 58.926 Dec: +43 45 25.33]
Resolution ............... 1.064 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -4.151 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2024-05-02 07:03:24 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2024-05-02 10:58:54 UTC
Geodetic coordinates ..... 119 04 46 W 37 46 51 N 2360 m
Focal distance ........... 729.11 mm
Pixel size ............... 3.76 um
Field of view ............ 1d 45' 4.6" x 1d 8' 17.4"
Image center ............. RA: 20 16 58.926 Dec: +43 45 25.33 ex: -0.048946 px ey: +0.518988 px
Image bounds:
top-left .............. RA: 20 21 37.894 Dec: +44 22 50.87 ex: -0.946881 px ey: -0.652703 px
top-right ............. RA: 20 11 52.961 Dec: +44 15 11.59 ex: +1.941060 px ey: -1.177687 px
bottom-left ........... RA: 20 21 59.661 Dec: +43 14 48.48 ex: -1.078908 px ey: +0.145086 px
bottom-right .......... RA: 20 12 25.735 Dec: +43 07 17.18 ex: +0.859122 px ey: +0.352825 px