Unpredictable

C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) had lots of potential to become a naked eye comet during late May. However, as seen before, comets can be very unpredictable. Around mid-March, observations indicated its brightening has slowed, and by early April there was speculation it was breaking up. This was confirmed with a closeup image taken on 11-April-2020, the same day as the one I acquired above.

 

Although the above image was 1st aligned on the stars and then combined (DSS) with comet aligned images, it coma is diffuse and elongated.

 

20200411 - Newtown, PA

 

Nikon D5500, WO-61 w/flat61

110 x 30s, 800iso

Regim Sig1.6 - stars aligned

DSS - comet align & combine w/star align

AffinityPhoto stretch

 

 

50% frame crop, 50% resolution

DDS-005_Calign-alignStack-cpsC_c50-95q.jpg

Done