Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

Solar Eclipses
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During the solar eclipse, the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks stands between the Sun and Jupiter. Will we be able to see it during the umbra or will the sky just be black?

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That is the million dollar question! I think most experts think it will be somewhere between impossible to foolhardy, but I am going to try for it anyway. I “believe” that the trick will be getting enough short exposures to be able to stretch out the comet from the background sky. The sky will be way brighter than a normal dusk sky and the comet may very well be too dim to tease it out of the background. Just have to make sure I don’t screw up the eclipse shots trying to get the comet!

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The black sky we see in photographs is due to exposure - it’s not really quite that dark, I believe. (It’s a similar effect to that which you see in macro underwater shots, where the background is completely dark.)

I’ve read that the light levels at max eclipse, measured in lux, are typically equivalent to late civil twilight, but I suppose it depends on magnitude.

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LOL! Yes, the solar eclipse has priority.

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I have only experienced one total solar eclipse so far (without a picture, it was rainy) and then I had the impression that it was pitch black. But that could also have been an illusion because the change from light to dark happened so quickly.

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This does not show civil twilight, but you can see that the eclipse sky is actually pretty bright. I confirmed this by looking at my wide angle images from Madras and comparing to civil here. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Brightness-of-solar-corona-compared-to-the-sky-brightness-during-the-day-a_fig4_301648266

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Thanks for the information. I couldn’t find 12P/Pons-Brooks near the horizon today. Probably an impossibility with an even brighter sky. I will likely concentrate fully on the eclipse. :sunglasses:

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Gordon has some thoughts on it. https://youtu.be/qy-EhigB5N8?feature=shared

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9

Very interesting. But with the brightness a rather hopeless undertaking. My focus will be 100% on the sun :sun_with_face: :camera:

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