Satellites, satellites, and PANSTARRS redux

2026/04/20. Comet 2025 R3 PANSTARRS passed perihelion only hours before I got up and took the R6 and 300mm lens over to the community lot under what pass for decent skies. While waiting for the comet to rise from the haze and murk over the Catawba River, I took 15, 8-second exposures of M31 while a blizzard of satellites sailed by.

12x8s, 300mm F2.8 Tamron, Canon R6, ISO 1600, SWSA

This is what happens if you press the shutter button manually to begin a series of exposures on a less-than-rock-solid mount. Don't do that. Or toss frame one, or use a hat trick, or a remote release. (You'll find this satellite trail just right of center at the bottom of the frame above.)

Guide 9 told me when the comet would rise, but it emerged from the fog in its own good time. By the time it did, the morning sky had brightened enough to hide all but about a degree of the comet's tail. The comet now begins to swing between the Earth and the Sun. What happens in the evening sky in a couple of weeks is anybody's guess. The show will be low in the western sky and well to the south. In the meantime, here are two last looks in the morning sky.

12x5s, 300mm F2.8 Tamron, Canon R6, ISO 1600, SWSA

24x5s, 300mm F2.8 Tamron, Canon R6, ISO 1600, cropped. SWSA

Worth nothing that even in the twilight, those stacks reach down to 10th magnitude and would, I am sure, go deeper if I worked at that aspect of the images.

Interestingly (!), the Adaptall adapter that connected the Tamron lens to a Canon EF flange came apart in the middle of this morning's efforts (literally, between M31 and 2025 R3). See, the reason KEH sold this lens so cheap is that the Adaptall fittings were (slightly) damaged. The adapter never quite locked into perfect position. I could force it close, but it never quite reached mechanical lock. It was plenty tight until this morning. When I got it home, I found that it would cinch down better if rotated 90 degrees from the intended orientation. But it still wasn't locked. So I coated the mating surfaces with SuperGlue, spun them into the better position, and hoped for the best. So far, so good.

:: top ::