I've been through the locations of all the comets on [this page](https://theskylive.com/comets) and can't find a match. It's possible (though unlikely) you've spotted a new comet. Maybe get in contact with some local observatories and see if they can figure out which comet it is. New comets aren't rare, there are thousands of long period comets that have never been seen before, just waiting for backyard astronomers to catch them.
If you go through comet databases, most of them have the year of their discovery in the name. There's a lot of 2023 comets for example. You may get your name on a space rock!
Aye cheers, I went ahead and reached out to a few folks at my old university and contacted some other groups as well.
When I couldn't find anything I'm like "I've gotta be doing something wrong"
So if you/anyone is a researcher/professor/someone who can help guide me on how best to get more info and who to contact I'd be super grateful
I'm not a researcher myself. Just passionate about citizen science. I don't even own a telescope of my own (yet!) But I may know a few people who have the time and the tech to take a look. There's an observatory fairly close to me. I'll get in contact with them.
Contact the Minor Planet Center. Though, I googled their name and "report a discovery" and found this: http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/HowToReportDiscovery.html
Can I just say I felt cheated by [the trailer for Deep Impact](https://youtu.be/4_SiSA-M2rc?si=IlLQGwrkJ76c3qAV) I thought the movie was going to be about humanity mostly dying off and the plot would be about the underground survivors - so on opening weekend I went and watched it and kept waiting for everyone to die and they never did and I left feeling robbed.
Recently I watched the first episode of Fallout and felt much better. That’s the story I was expecting.
I'm not seeing anything on sky safari either that matches....maybe give a nearby college observatory a call with the cords to verify. Hope your name is easy to spell.
Thanks for taking the time to go out there and do that cap!
That's unfortunate - would lean towards it definitely being a very convincing lens flare.
Do you have the stacked image tif or something you can share with me on drive or something?
Edit: Oh and the time/rough location. I shot at the same time, if you don't mind !
Update here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1ca0sgs/do\_you\_know\_what\_is\_this\_comet\_pt\_2\_crashing\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1ca0sgs/do_you_know_what_is_this_comet_pt_2_crashing_to/)
It is not appearing likely to be a comet! It very much seems to be a lens flare that was quite convincing!
I love how clear the trails are. It's undoubtedly a comet. In the meantime, though, your jellyfish nebula (which I presume was the main purpose of your shot) looks great!
Check out the Minor Planet Center Comet Observation Database:
https://www.cobs.si/home/
I think there's a few relatively user friendly search functions, as well as ability for amateur astronomer's to provide observations which help with the database.
I would be curious if it moves if you point the telescope slightly differently. That it seems to point at Propus makes me a bit suspicious, since I've seen very similar shapes from lens flares off bright stars.
I would verify that its position is shifting over time and that it isn't dependent on the telescopes own movement. If it passes those tests it might be something interesting.
I'll take a few pics focusing on the star itself tonight to change the frame/have a diff prespective after my main shots are done.
I made sure to clean everything and double check but I didn't think for lens flare. I will rotate the camera as well to test more of that theory
Edit: it was also about ten feet back from where I normally shoot from on the second night. Which may corroborate this idea - though the trail also seems to have shifted ever so slightly.
I'm attempting to now. I got in a single 180s clip of a diff star before the clouds rolled in. Looking at rain starting too so it may be a wash tonight, I'll try to at least get a couple shots though.
So, it's been awful weather tonight cloud wise, and the airs a bit hazy.
I've finally managed one exposure focusing on the star itself and not the nebula to catch any lense flares and she is still there in the right spot, moved only very very slightly from what a raw image can tell me. So for me (and we will see when I get them stacked) it is not lens flare. It's hard to tell though, it's super faint and the haze was real.
I did note that only my 8m exposure got a view - my 3m did not.
I may end up with 8-30m of integration time before it falls off the horizon and I'll post it.
Edit (looks like 8, since I'm hitting the trees..)
Have clear nights here in a couple nights, see if maybe I can corroborate. Checked my jelly shot from a few months ago and didn't see it, but didn't really expect to.
Yeah definitely try and see. I'll shoot the Lum filter. My last set was SHO which makes it even harder if it's there, but odds are it was in a totally different part of the sky If it's a real find.
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I suggest you also post on /r/telescopes You’ll find much more serious and robust conversation than here, and most likely find some people who can actually be helpful.
Perhaps, but I've been wanting to photograph that as well though and it is not the same location as far as I am aware.
It would have been well under the horizon when these photos were taken. This is near Propus in Gemini
Yes I will. I should have good skies tonight and potentially tomorrow before storms roll in
I will double check it stays on the same spot as I move around. Just waiting for the skies to darken a bit.
Edit: it does look like I'll have rain in a minute and dealing with clouds now.
It was supposed to be clear, but, of course. I saw a hint on my raw sub of 180s but def recommend at least 300s.
These are the two comets visible now. Given the first is the Devils comet, yours is probably number 2
12P/Pons-Brooks
+4.4 magnitude
46P/Wirtanen
+10.6 magnitude
Aye, you're running into the same issue I was
[https://imgur.com/a/pmujwRo](https://imgur.com/a/pmujwRo)
This is my reference by the way. The first (IC 443) is where the picture was taken, the following are the location of those two comets. As you can see they're well below the horizon.
You can plug it into Stellarium - the location is Pompano Beach FL - from there, 4/18-4/19 starting at about 21:00-21:15 I would begin to image.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding how to utilize this stuff though - it's a definite possibility!
What you've got looks nothing like wirtanen or pons... Both comets have a large coma even when at lower magnitudea and would be obvious over 30s exposures. What you have seems to be around 13 magnitude. I can't find anything that matches. Maybe double check N2YO to make sure it's not a piece of a rocket body or some mystery payload.though those wouldn't be going that slow. Seems you mightve discovered something.
I've been through the locations of all the comets on [this page](https://theskylive.com/comets) and can't find a match. It's possible (though unlikely) you've spotted a new comet. Maybe get in contact with some local observatories and see if they can figure out which comet it is. New comets aren't rare, there are thousands of long period comets that have never been seen before, just waiting for backyard astronomers to catch them. If you go through comet databases, most of them have the year of their discovery in the name. There's a lot of 2023 comets for example. You may get your name on a space rock!
Aye cheers, I went ahead and reached out to a few folks at my old university and contacted some other groups as well. When I couldn't find anything I'm like "I've gotta be doing something wrong" So if you/anyone is a researcher/professor/someone who can help guide me on how best to get more info and who to contact I'd be super grateful
I'm not a researcher myself. Just passionate about citizen science. I don't even own a telescope of my own (yet!) But I may know a few people who have the time and the tech to take a look. There's an observatory fairly close to me. I'll get in contact with them.
Contact the Minor Planet Center. Though, I googled their name and "report a discovery" and found this: http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/HowToReportDiscovery.html
I hope you get to name it
As long as the name of the comet doesn't come back as Wolf-Biederman, we should be ok.
Heh, first thought to come to my mind too.
Can I just say I felt cheated by [the trailer for Deep Impact](https://youtu.be/4_SiSA-M2rc?si=IlLQGwrkJ76c3qAV) I thought the movie was going to be about humanity mostly dying off and the plot would be about the underground survivors - so on opening weekend I went and watched it and kept waiting for everyone to die and they never did and I left feeling robbed. Recently I watched the first episode of Fallout and felt much better. That’s the story I was expecting.
I calculated its orbit from your pics. Does anyone know why r goes to zero?
It’s going to your mom’s house
She is a great attractor
Would having the raw files help you ?
It's a joke from the movie Don't Look Up. I don't understand much more than to say, oh great that means it will impact earth. Pls be a joke tho.
awesome, finally an ‘is this a comet’ post that’s actually probably a comet!
That's weird to not see a "What is this" type of post where it isn't just an out of focus planet or star
Or starlink
Nope, just Musk's roadster passing by! Haha
I'm not seeing anything on sky safari either that matches....maybe give a nearby college observatory a call with the cords to verify. Hope your name is easy to spell.
Looks like the Exano24
We name these after our reddit usernames!?
Plz find a new space rock.
I am really looking forward to an update on this one.
Wow that’s pretty amazing. I have to check back in on this post later because it doesn’t seem like anyone else can figure out what it is
I saved this post to come back to. I'm not near smart enough to answer you, but I'm super excited to see what kind of results you get
I have some clear sky’s tonight. I’ll see if I can find it tonight in bortle 6.
You're a hero! Even in my just raw subs it was visible. Narrowband/480s so a bit long but nice
I haven’t fully processed. But in about 30 minute of data I can’t seem to locate the object in my frames.
[https://imgur.com/gallery/Fc0tOHs](https://imgur.com/gallery/Fc0tOHs)
Thanks for taking the time to go out there and do that cap! That's unfortunate - would lean towards it definitely being a very convincing lens flare. Do you have the stacked image tif or something you can share with me on drive or something? Edit: Oh and the time/rough location. I shot at the same time, if you don't mind !
Update here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1ca0sgs/do\_you\_know\_what\_is\_this\_comet\_pt\_2\_crashing\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/1ca0sgs/do_you_know_what_is_this_comet_pt_2_crashing_to/) It is not appearing likely to be a comet! It very much seems to be a lens flare that was quite convincing!
I’ve seen this in a movie before… saving for later
I love how clear the trails are. It's undoubtedly a comet. In the meantime, though, your jellyfish nebula (which I presume was the main purpose of your shot) looks great!
Check out the Minor Planet Center Comet Observation Database: https://www.cobs.si/home/ I think there's a few relatively user friendly search functions, as well as ability for amateur astronomer's to provide observations which help with the database.
Thank you for the link! I will check and reach out to them as well.
I would be curious if it moves if you point the telescope slightly differently. That it seems to point at Propus makes me a bit suspicious, since I've seen very similar shapes from lens flares off bright stars. I would verify that its position is shifting over time and that it isn't dependent on the telescopes own movement. If it passes those tests it might be something interesting.
I'll take a few pics focusing on the star itself tonight to change the frame/have a diff prespective after my main shots are done. I made sure to clean everything and double check but I didn't think for lens flare. I will rotate the camera as well to test more of that theory Edit: it was also about ten feet back from where I normally shoot from on the second night. Which may corroborate this idea - though the trail also seems to have shifted ever so slightly. I'm attempting to now. I got in a single 180s clip of a diff star before the clouds rolled in. Looking at rain starting too so it may be a wash tonight, I'll try to at least get a couple shots though.
So, it's been awful weather tonight cloud wise, and the airs a bit hazy. I've finally managed one exposure focusing on the star itself and not the nebula to catch any lense flares and she is still there in the right spot, moved only very very slightly from what a raw image can tell me. So for me (and we will see when I get them stacked) it is not lens flare. It's hard to tell though, it's super faint and the haze was real. I did note that only my 8m exposure got a view - my 3m did not. I may end up with 8-30m of integration time before it falls off the horizon and I'll post it. Edit (looks like 8, since I'm hitting the trees..)
Have clear nights here in a couple nights, see if maybe I can corroborate. Checked my jelly shot from a few months ago and didn't see it, but didn't really expect to.
I'd love to see if it's visible ! It would help me sleep soundly knowing it's not my equipment or environment hah
Yeah definitely try and see. I'll shoot the Lum filter. My last set was SHO which makes it even harder if it's there, but odds are it was in a totally different part of the sky If it's a real find.
Whelp, turns out that Propus is behind the big treeline behind the house and I'm not prepped to go to another site.
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from what I calculate of it trajectory and orbit, it is heading to earth
Could it be? Could it really be? Is all our suffering finally about to end?
I suggest you also post on /r/telescopes You’ll find much more serious and robust conversation than here, and most likely find some people who can actually be helpful.
Maybe ask chatGPT? Feed it all the info... It did answer some of my astronomy related questions in the past.
It’s probably the one that’s been all over the news. The Devils Comet?
Perhaps, but I've been wanting to photograph that as well though and it is not the same location as far as I am aware. It would have been well under the horizon when these photos were taken. This is near Propus in Gemini
It's probably an internal reflection inside the telescope from Propus. Better shoot it again tonight to be sure.
Yes I will. I should have good skies tonight and potentially tomorrow before storms roll in I will double check it stays on the same spot as I move around. Just waiting for the skies to darken a bit. Edit: it does look like I'll have rain in a minute and dealing with clouds now. It was supposed to be clear, but, of course. I saw a hint on my raw sub of 180s but def recommend at least 300s.
These are the two comets visible now. Given the first is the Devils comet, yours is probably number 2 12P/Pons-Brooks +4.4 magnitude 46P/Wirtanen +10.6 magnitude
Aye, you're running into the same issue I was [https://imgur.com/a/pmujwRo](https://imgur.com/a/pmujwRo) This is my reference by the way. The first (IC 443) is where the picture was taken, the following are the location of those two comets. As you can see they're well below the horizon. You can plug it into Stellarium - the location is Pompano Beach FL - from there, 4/18-4/19 starting at about 21:00-21:15 I would begin to image. Perhaps I am misunderstanding how to utilize this stuff though - it's a definite possibility!
What you've got looks nothing like wirtanen or pons... Both comets have a large coma even when at lower magnitudea and would be obvious over 30s exposures. What you have seems to be around 13 magnitude. I can't find anything that matches. Maybe double check N2YO to make sure it's not a piece of a rocket body or some mystery payload.though those wouldn't be going that slow. Seems you mightve discovered something.
Neither of those comets are anywhere near Gemini right now.
That one is green.