Comet 12P Pons-Brooks (Updated)

Location:  Wolastoq Park, Saint John, NB, Canada

Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  March 31, 2024 2015-2150hrs

April 2, 2024 2040-2210hrs

Weather for March 31- Mostly clear, cool wind-chill, breezy from the west, 3C to 0C.

Weather for April 2- Mostly clear, hazy, wind-chill breezy at times from the east, 5C to 3C and humidity 58%.

Equipment:  For March 31, Canon Rebel with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses.  For April 2, Canon Rebel attached to 80mm ED/APO.  Images Processed with Photoshop Elements.

Report for March 31:  Found comet where we thought it would be, below and to the right of Jupiter in the western sky, near 2.0 mag Alpha Aries star Hamal.  It formed an equilateral triangle with another Aries star.  Comet showed up nicely as a greenish grayish blob in binoculars.  Approximately 5th mag, brighter central region.  Couldn't see the tail in binoculars, and not able to see comet naked eye.  Comet was too faint to see in camera viewscreen, maybe because of city light pollution.

Imaged through camera and 300mm lens.  Single shot 8 second, ISO 1600,

April 2 Report:  Under darker skies, comet tail appeared faint and somewhat fan-like in binoculars but comet is still not visible with unaided eye.  Comet has a remarkably bright central region that makes it look more star-like through 15x70 binos. Comet 12P is moving towards Jupiter, away from Hamal(Arabic for Mutton) in Aries, and is reported to possibly get brighter over the next week or so. 

Note:  While processing images, noticed many satellites passing through field of view, so I strung the images together and produced a video(seen below). This is an approximately 10 minutes of comet approaching horizon.

Imaged nearby objects Jupiter, Pleiades, and in Perseus M34 and the Little Dumbell Nebula M76,

Imaged through 80mm telescope.  Single shot, 30 second ISO 6400.