Ne Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

[Dennis]

Hi Dennis,

Looks like you tracked it through a star cluster. That's a lot of background stars in the field.

Again, great image!

Tycho Tracker does a nice job on your subs.

Phil S.

Thanks Phil, it has taken me a few attempts to "re-learn" Tycho Tracker as it has been a long time between drinks. And yes - it is an excellent resource.

I managed to record C 2025 N1 (ATLAS) from our back garden in Brisbane on 27th August 2025.

I processed the set of frames in Tycho Tracker and here are the Tracked (aligned on Comet) and Trailed (aligned on stars) Views as generated from within Tycho Tracker.

Celestron C11 Edge HD at F10.
ASI2600MM Pro camera Bin 2x2.
30x60 sec exposures

I was only able to use 20 of the frames, as the comet passed in front of a bright star for the last 10 frames.

Here are the plate solving results from the full FOV from the middle image of the series.
******** ASTROMETRIC SOLUTION RESULTS ********
Center RA (2000.0): 15h 40m 50.88s
Center Dec (2000.0): -14° 59' 37.6"
Scale: 0.5510 arcseconds/pixel
Size (pixels): 3124 x 2088
Angular Size: 0° 28' 41" x 0° 19' 10"
Position Angle: 0° 29' from north through east
FWHM: 4.11 pixels, 2.26 arcseconds
***********************************************
The comet has now passed the Meridian and is heading into the light pollution dome of Brisbane.
 
Dennis.