The Space and Astronomy Thread

Given the cloud cover we have here at the moment, I'm not sure we'll notice it!
 
Has been in and out of cloud here which is better than the 2 second glimpse last time!
 
There will be a chance to see all the planets in the solar system in the night sky on Thursday.
Five should be visible with the naked eye, while the two furthest away, Uranus and Neptune, will be better viewed with binoculars.
It will be challenging to see Mercury and Venus in the UK due to their low position in the sky.
The best time to see the spectacle is shortly after sunset.
 
Just before dawn. I haven't seen it yet because it hasn't been clear at that time yet. Probably unspectacular but it is a fast one so motion again the background stars will be visible with a telescope and make trails in long exposures.

The first image here is from a similar brightness comet last year and the next one is Neowise. Both taken with a Canon 6D and an 70-200mm lens.
IMG_5313_stacked-2.jpgIMG_1103_stacked.jpg
 
Hauled my carcass out of bed at 4.30 to take a picture of the morning comet c/2022 E3.

It's very high in the sky in the early hours and almost overhead by 6am.

With binoculars it's easy to find if you just sweep around and it appears as a fuzzy blob the size of the moon and without colour.

A few seconds exposure with an SLR shows colour and shape.

Canon 6D, 70-200mm f4 at 200mm. 9 stacked 30 second exosures. By focus was slightly out as was my tracking so the stars could be sharper.IMG_9932_stacked_best_sharp.jpg
 
I was watching it at work, mighty impressive thing even if the test flight only made it three minutes or so. They must have got a load of data which will help with resolving the cause of failure.
 
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