Comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS)

[rwilkinson]

I managed to detect this 11th magnitude comet last week from a dark site in the Wye Valley - but using only a 135mm telephoto lens on the front of my Atik 16IC one-shot colour camera, on a tracking alt-az mount:

My image from the Wye Valley on 24-Nov. 45x 45-sec using 16IC with Pentax 135mm lens at f/4.

c2016r2_24nov.png (369.84 KiB) Viewed 3860 times

Then last night I had my "proper" comet-imaging system set up for C/2017 O1, and after I'd done that (and re-set my polar alignment) I had a go at this comet from home. With the bright moonlight I was expecting it to be a struggle, but in fact it showed up on my first 90-sec image. This is what I ended up with after re-alignment and stacking:

The comet from Bolton on 29-Nov. 32x 90-sec using MX716 on C8 at f/3.3

c2016r2_29nov.png (162.31 KiB) Viewed 3860 times

[rwilkinson]

This comet is now heading into Taurus, and will pass by The Hyades cluster in the first week in January.
I got another picture of it last night from Tenerife:

Comet 2016 R2 on 25-Dec. 2x 150-sec from C14 at f/10

c2016r2_25dec.png (219.88 KiB) Viewed 3685 times

[rwilkinson]

I took advantage of the clear sky last night to get an image of the comet from my back garden.
It's quite near to Aldebaran at the moment.

The comet from Bolton on 27-Dec. 63x 90-sec with MX716 on C8 at f/3.3

c2016r2_27dec.png (143.86 KiB) Viewed 3661 times