A Comet, A Messier, & Two Planets Rising

 Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  March 21, 2021 0430-0652hrs

Weather:  It was a warm and hazy -3C, 67% humidity, mostly clear until about 6am.  That's when it went from no wind, to a slight breeze, from the north.  It turned very chilly after that.  Temps leaving Saint John were 5 degrees warmer.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Canon Rebel T3 attached to an 80 ED/APO telescope at prime focus and with an 18-55mm lens.  Images processed on Photoshop.

Objective:  To image two comets in the morning sky, and anything else that seemed interesting.  The comets were C/2020 R4 Atlas, in Aquila and 10P/Tempel 2 in Aquarius.

Report:

• As soon as I arrived I attempted to image the Summer Triangle, rising in the East, but the images didn't turn out well because they were out of focus.  The stars were too faint to zoom in on, to obtain adequate focus.
• Aligned scope on Regulus, which was low in the west at approx 0500hrs.  According to Richard Hinckley Allen, in his Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning, Regulus is a triple star system of 1.7, 8.5 and 13 mag stars, is flushed white and ultramarine.(Will at image at later date)
  
• Searched for and found C/2020 R4 Atlas in Aquila, halfway between Altair and Saturn.  It's faint, approximately 10 mag.

ISO 3200, 50s, not cropped.

•  Searched for Comet 10P/Tempel 2, which was reported in Aquarius.  Aquarius was just rising during morning first light, but the comet did not rise above the horizon before the sky became too lit.  While in Aquarius, searching for the comet, I found  and imaged the bright globular cluster M2, which was in the trees, low along the horizon.  The sky was lighting up fast by this time...approximately 607am.

ISO 3200, 30s, not cropped.

•  Jupiter & Saturn didn't start rising over the treeline until after 630am.  They remain low in the south eastern morning sky.

f/4.5, 8s, ISO 100, focal length 33mm, image cropped.

• Heard my first flock of Canada Geese of the year, around 615am, flying north along the coast.  Many other birds were heard chirping in the morning twilight, and some were even chirping and moving around before first light.  A sign of spring.
• At 643am, as I was taking down the setup, I heard, then seen a bright bolide slowly sailing from west to south east, halfway up in the southern sky.  Its sizzled as it burned itself out, flying straight at Saint John, from my vantage point.

• No satellites were seen, or any other shooting stars.