More than astrophotography, an astronomical exploration.
Comet 24P/Schaumasse - 27 Dec
David Cruz · Astromidnight
In Coma Berenices, comet 24P/Schaumasse glows green eight days before its closest approach to Earth, with a small tail. Around it are galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, about 54 million light-years away.
| Catalogue | Periodic comet 24P · discovered in 1911 |
| Type | Jupiter-family comet |
| Distance | ≈ 89 million km (0.60 AU, 27 Dec 2025) |
| Field | 83.4′ × 55.7′ |
| Scale | 0.81″ / pixel |
| Orientation | 178° · south up |
| RA (centre) | 12h 27m 12s |
| DEC (centre) | +15° 20′ 59″ |
| Constellation | Coma Berenices |
| Objects in field | 24P · 7 galaxies · Virgo Cluster |
Distance and orbit of the comet calculated by JPL (Horizons and Small-Body Database) for the early hours of 27 December 2025. The comet's position was measured by us in the image and matches the JPL ephemeris for about 04:40 UT that morning. The image is rotated 180° relative to the AstroBin astrometric solution, so the galaxy positions were also measured in the image and confirmed with SIMBAD coordinates. The cluster galaxies use the mean distance of the Virgo Cluster from Mei et al. (2007); that of IC 3327 was calculated from redshift, with H0 = 70 km/s/Mpc. No real width: the field mixes a comet in the Solar System with distant galaxies.
1 h 20 min of light
Each tick is a 120-second exposure. 40 in total, with the camera at −10 °C and gain 100. Calibrated with 30 darks, 30 flats and 30 bias. The Moon stayed below 50 % illumination throughout.
Carbon Newton 10' f/4
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Sky-Watcher CQ350 Pro
Askar M54 OAG · ZWO ASI120MM Mini
TS-Optics Maxfield .95X Coma Corrector
Adobe Photoshop · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Stefan Berg Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A. / NINA)
São Pedro da Gafanhoeira, Évora · 358 m
Bortle 3