Introduction
C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) is a non-periodic comet discovered in June 2011 that became visible to the naked eye when it was near perihelion in March 2013. It was the first comet I saw after getting started with astronomy and astrophotography so I was quite excited about this one. After having seen it a view times with my binoculars I finally had the chance to photograph it during an astro-trip to Hohen Woos in Germany.
Photographing PanSTARRS
The first image of this post was taken with the following details:
Date: 15/04/13
Location: Hohen Woos – Germany
Optics: Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 used on 200mm F4
Mount: Astrotrac
Camera: Unmodified Nikon D7000 used at ISO1600
Guiding: none
Exposure: 50 x 20 sec.
Processing
Processed in PixInsight
No darks, no flats, no bias
Next to this ‘typical’ astrophoto I also took a photo that is showing PanSTARRS in between the branches of a tree, to emphasise the fact that this is a comet that was visible to the naked eye.
This is a single exposure of 20 seconds.
