C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

After several attempts frustrated by clouds, on 18/10/2024, I had the opportunity to take some images of comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS from my observatory in Àger.

The first image is focused on detail and is taken with Takahashi TOA-150 and STL-11000M camera: 29 x 30 seconds of Luminance plus 11 x 20 seconds of R, G and B (those taken with FSQ-106N).

On this image, colour has been calibrated with SpectrophotometricColorCalibration module taking as white reference G2V star on an auxiliary star registered image and later transferred the calibration coefficients to the comet registered image according to the method described by Vicent Peris. 

Other key modules used in the processing of this image have been the HDRMultiscaleTransform and the LocalHistogramEqualization.

The second image is a wider field, taken exclusively with Takahashi FSQ-106N: 11 x 20 seconds of Luminance plus 11 x 20 seconds of R, G and B.

On this image after processing, I have reinserted the stars (with the great help of the ScreenStars script from Mike Cranfield & Bill Blanchan: many thanks to them!).

Simultaneous and synchronized acquisition of images with two cameras by using AstroArt.

Click on the images for full resolution versions, or go to the Gallery section for complete exposure details.

Image processing: Pixinsight.

Observatory automation and remote operation with Talon6.