Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

I didn't actually realise until last night that this comet was an entirely different one to the one I saw last year.  And the one I saw last year I thought I saw just before Christmas.  Nope.  October!!  I'm losing my mind.  

I went out on Wednesday night (22/1) at maybe 20:30.  Way too bright.  But did meet up with Rob and Lynne and so we hung out together to wait for it to get dark.

My G5X picked it up first a bit after nine.  But I'm blind and the screen is so tiny I couldn't see it.  The phone could see it around 21:14.  Well, that's when it was bright enough for me to zoom and in and find the little smudge so we knew where to look.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

I managed to get a few photos on the G5X before it got so dark it had not enough contrast to focus.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Another shot on the phone

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

I also had a go on the 600D.  My ~12-13 year old camera that I inherited from Dad in 2014.  That has, as I discovered, many dead pixels.  It also had trouble focussing in the dark, so set to manual focus and was able to get some shots.

This one was 20 seconds - star trails!

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

On Friday 24/1 Tony said he hadn't seen it yet, so we headed up Mt Rogers to get a different view.  Turns out city lights, while annoying for astro photography, also give cameras something to focus on.

Once again I was able to use the phone to figure out exactly where to look.  Here's a couple of shots on the phone.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

And those lights gave the G5X something to focus on, so got the rest of the photos of the night on that.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Bug trails!!  And by bug trails I mean Elon's space junk #grunt
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Fun times!

Oh, I forgot to link to this.. lyra_lightchaser's spectacular photo of it streaming off the top of Black Mountain Tower!