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Comet 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann continues to evolve

The Comet 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann; 2013-06-28T10:51:45.613; which had an outburst on approximately the 13th June 2013 continues to evolve and now, after a 5 day break of cloud, is appearing quite different from the 22nd when I last photographed it. The image below shows how broad and diffuse the “tail” has become, and how point-like the nucleus is now as opposed to the broader and brighter nucleus it was on the 15th shortly after outburst.

Photograph of Comet 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann; 2013-06-28T10:51:45.613;
Photograph of Comet 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann; 2013-06-28T10:51:45.613; 0.86”/pixel (12” SCT @ 2200mm, ST8-XME @ bin 1×1) 5 x 180 seconds summed

See my page of 29P Schwassman-Wachmann photographs for a history of some of my images (not every night gets its images published).

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Sunset Reflections

Yesterday evening I had some fun wandering along the Swan River with my camera. I haven’t been to this spot before, but first impressions are that I’ll be back soon. A nice peaceful spot not too far from home with reasonably nice scenery.

Silhouettes and sunset colours along the banks of the Swan River in Western Australia.

Reaching Out To The Moon. Silhouettes of gumtrees along the banks of the Swan River, with the Moon showing through as though the trees are reaching out to it.
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Comet 117P

Last night I was inspired to take a photo of comet 117P after seeing some recent messages on the ASV comet list regarding it. Days earlier I had looked for available comets to photograph and missed this one.

I was surprised by the length of 117P’s tail. The comet is relatively faint (around magnitude 14 I believe) yet the tail is quite elongated. While it’s not something probably worth “writing home about” it’s also not a sure bet to get a visible tail on a magnitude 14 comet. Not from my experience anyhow.

Future images of the comet will be posted on the 117P comet page.

Photograph of Photograph of Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu at 2013-06-03T13:41:55.686 UTC
Photograph of Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu at 2013-06-03T13:41:55.686 UTC using 12″ SCT telescope at 2200mm focal length, with ST8-XME camera at bin 1×1 equating to approximately 0.86 arc seconds per pixel. 5 x 180 second exposures averaged. Image inverted.