Tel Lekatsas

Newly discovered comet SWAN25B imaged from Heaven' Mirror, Australia. It was discovered on 11 September in SWAN images by Vladimir Bezugly. Too early to tell how this comet is going to perform.

Newly discovered comet SWAN25B imaged from Heaven's Mirror, Australia. It was discovered on 11 September in SWAN images by Vladimir Bezugly. Too early to tell how this comet is going to perform. Fingers crossed!

A comet with a thin and long tail and a small green coma.

A rather bright comet has been discovered in images of the spacecrafts SOHO/SWAN & STEREO - preliminary designated SWAN25B. It's 7-8 mag and w/ a nice tail. No orbit yet, but from the available data I suspect it could pass very close to Earth soon.
Image by M. Mattiazzo, groups.io/g/comets-ml/...
🔭☄️

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Looking more like a comet with a nice fuzzy elliptical coma. 2025-08-12.40 m1 mag 16.5 (ATLAS2 V) 9 x 120" iTelescope T32 (CDK 431mm/ASI 6200MM Pro) Siding Spring, Australia. Tel Lekatsas

3I/ATLAS stacked images.

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Looking more like a comet with a nice fuzzy elliptical coma.

2025-08-12.40
m1 mag 16.5 (ATLAS2 V)
9 x 120" iTelescope T32 (CDK 431mm/ASI 6200MM Pro)
Siding Spring, Australia.
Tel Lekatsas

Scrubbed due to upper level winds. Next launch attempt 27 July.

MP4 animation of 3I/ATLAS since animated GIFs don't work.

Interstellar comet C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) (3I/ATLAS) iTelescope T32 (17" Planewave CDK) L: 15 x 60" animation and image stack, cropped. 2025-07-05T 12:06 UTC, iTelescope Siding Spring, Australia.

Interstellar comet C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) (3I/ATLAS) iTelescope T32 (17" Planewave CDK) L: 15 x 60" image stack, cropped. 2025-07-05T 12:06 UTC, iTelescope Siding Spring, Australia.

Interstellar comet C/2025 N1 (ATLAS) (3I/ATLAS)
iTelescope T32 (17" Planewave CDK)
L: 15 x 60" animation and image stack, cropped.
2025-07-05T 12:06 UTC, iTelescope Siding Spring, Australia.

The Cosmic Bat flying through dusty clouds in Ophiuchus. FSQ106N + STXL 16200 L:10 hours RGB@3.5 hours. Imaged from Heaven's Mirror Observatory in Australia. The Cosmic Bat Nebula (LDN 43). Starless version.

The Cosmic Bat flying through dusty clouds in Ophiuchus.

FSQ106N + STXL 16200
L:10 hours RGB@3.5 hours.
Imaged from Heaven's Mirror Observatory in Australia.

The Cosmic Bat Nebula (LDN 43). Starless version.

Located in the constellation Apus, the South Celestial Serpent (Mandel-Wilson 9) is an integrated flux nebula (IFN). IFN live far from the galactic plane and are primarily composed of dust. They are a long way from the main mass of stars in the Milky Way and shine faintly in the reflected light of all of those stars . Mandel-Wilson 9 is the only southern member of the Mandel-Wilson catalogue. This is a two panel mosaic of the region captured from Heaven's Mirror Observatory in Yass, NSW, Australia. Each panel consists of roughly 40 x 600" luminance images, about 7 hours per panel. Subs were captured over a few nights in June and July 2023.

The South Celestial Serpent (Mandel-Wilson 9): an integrated flux nebula (IFN). Captured from Heaven's Mirror Observatory in 2023. Full image over on Astrobin app.astrobin.com/u/lekatsas?i...

YouTube video by Comet Chasing May 2025 Comet Update

Comet prospects for the rest of the month remain poor. The Comet Outlook for May www.youtube.com/watch?v=_380... from comet Chasing and Skyhound.

The ghost of comet C/2025 G3 (ATLAS) 2025-05-01 08:55 UTC once again seen almost edge on, one day after the Earth crossed the comet's orbital plane.

The ghost of comet C/2025 G3 (ATLAS) 2025-05-01 08:55 UTC once again seen almost edge on, one day after the Earth crossed the comet's orbital plane.

The Ghost of C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) seen almost edge on as we pass through the comet's orbital plane. Imaged from Heaven's Mirror Observatory in Australia.

The Ghost of C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) seen almost edge on as Earth passed through the comet's orbital plane on April 30.

Imaged from Heaven's Mirror Observatory in Australia.

The Ghost of Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)
2025-04-25 08:33 UTC
Ephemeris position of the defunct nucleus marked.
The dusty hood appears less broad as Earth is approaching the comet's orbital plane. We should get an almost edge on view of the dust on April 30.

Thanks Maik!

Headless comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), still visible in small telescopes months after it broke up.

The ghost of comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from last night (2025-04-18). The comet disintegrated in mind January but the remaining loose cloud of dust and rubble continues to reflect enough light to be detected in a small telescope. The dust still forms a nice parabolic hood.

Oh dear ... "Mr Eclipse" Fred Espenak just wrote this on a mailing list and on facebook.com/fred.espenak.... The eclipse scene has lost so many of its greatest in the last three years, Jay Pasachof, Serge Kouchmy, Glenn Schneider, and now its towering figure will leave us. :-(

Nicely done, still some detail visible in the tail despite the impact of moonlight.

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) 2025-01-30 10:09 UTC. Sony A7III: 70 mm f/4.5 ISO 16000 97 x 2.5 seconds. Ma Ma Creek, Australia. The comet was still visible with unaided vison, though considerably fainter than previous nights.

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) 2025-01-30 10:09 UTC.
Sony A7III: 70 mm f/4.5 ISO 16000 97 x 2.5 seconds.
Ma Ma Creek, Australia.
The comet was still visible with unaided vison, though considerably fainter than previous nights.

YouTube video by MMC Astronomy Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) as seen from SECCHI/HI-1 Ahead

The dramatic tails of Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from STEREO-A/HI-1. The comet was in view of the spacecraft from 13 - 23 Jan 2025.

Data from stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov
Raw images processed with Pixinsight and Python.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=spLE...

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) 2026-01-19 09:45 UTC Sony A7III 300mm f/6.3 2"x20 ISO1600 Lockyer Valley, Australia.

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) 2026-01-19 09:45 UTC
Sony A7III 300mm f/6.3 2"x20 ISO1600
Lockyer Valley, Australia.
The nucleus appears to have disintegrated. This is not as bad as it sounds, hopefully there will be some brightening of parts of the tail as the fragments continue to disintegrate.

The Magellanic Clouds.

The Magellanic clouds, I took this a week ago. Sony A7III with a 20mm prime lens, 10 seconds ISO 3200. Pretty close to what I see from my place, but hardly any color when viewed with the naked eye.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from LASCO C3 2025/01/12 00:30 UTC, 17.6 second exposure, Clear filter.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from LASCO C3 2025/01/12 00:30 UTC, 17.6 second exposure, Clear filter. Perihelion in a bit over 24 hours (2025-01-13 10:16:45).

You're welcome! It's cloudy to my South at the moment, I'll get you a proper photo when the sky clears.

This was taken with a GoPro from my rural property in Queensland, Australia in April, 2021. The Magellanic clouds are setting as the Emu is rising.

That is close to what it looks like with the naked eye on a night with no moon, except that the colors are less vivid to the naked eye.

Date correction - it should be 2025-01-04 18:05 UTC.

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) 2025-01-02 18:05 UTC. Sony A7III 1.6" @ 300mm f/6.3 ISO 1000. Very easy to see in binoculars, but I couldn't see it with the naked eye. The view in the binoculars closely matches the photo.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) 2025-01-02 18:05 UTC.
Sony A7III 1.6" @ 300mm f/6.3 ISO 1000.
Very easy to see in binoculars, but I couldn't see it with the naked eye. The view in the binoculars closely matches the photo.
Current magnitude on cobs.si ~ 2.
Ma Ma Creek, Australia. #comet #astrophotography

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from Ma Ma Creek, Australia 2025-01-02 18:06 UTC. Sony A7m3 15 x 1" @ 175mm f/5.6 ISO 1000. Stack of 15 x 1" images, sky background subtracted.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from Ma Ma Creek, Australia 2025-01-02 18:06 UTC. Sony A7m3 15 x 1" @ 175mm f/5.6 ISO 1000. Stack of 15 x 1" images, sky background as shot.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from Ma Ma Creek, Australia 2025-01-02 18:06 UTC. Sony A7m3 1 x 1" @ 175mm f/5.6 ISO 1000. Crop from a single 1" image.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) from Ma Ma Creek, Australia 2025-01-02 18:06 UTC. Sony A7m3 15 x 1" @ 175mm f/5.6ISO 1000.
Imaged in a very bright dawn sky. Reported magnitude on cobs.si is 3.5 with reports of naked eye visibility.
#comet #astrophotography

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas in the morning sky, 1 October 2024. Ma Ma Creek, Australia.

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas in the evening sky 19 October 2024. Ma Ma Creek, Australia.

Two of my favourite images of comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas. On the left, the comet is in the morning sky, on the right in the evening sky. Imaged from Ma Ma Creek, Australia.

Looks like a few early mornings again, well worth getting up for. Bayside definitely the place to be for a dawn comet.

29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann after the recent series of outbursts. L: 5 x 180" 2024-12-03 07:25 UTC. iTelescope T72 (CDK 20" FLI 16200) Deep Sky Chile, Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile.

Comet 29P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, an unusual object which shows frequent dramatic brightening (oubursts) had a series of outbursts between 21 and 24 November 2024.

Imaged 12 days after the initial outburst.

L: 5 x 180"
2024-12-03 07:25 UTC.
iTelescope T72 (CDK 20" FLI 16200), Chile.