The ClearNightSky forecast showed clear skies predicted for the whole night. I wanted to repeat the Part 3 results making observation of comet 220P/McNaught using the three target types (nebula, galaxy, or cluster). This time with the gain set to 15 dB or 20 dB. Mainly to confirm that “cluster” is the best manual target choice to minimize the issue of the center background gradient. It has been six nights since the last good observations and according to the Comet Observers Database (COBS) the visual magnitude of the comet dimmed to +11.0.
The observations from the Vespera 3, Vespera Pro 1, and Vespera Pro 2 telescopes are shown below. These are the unedited, “straight out of the telescope” (SOOT) JPG images. Click on the i below the slideshow to see the caption with the Manual Target parameters.
The “cluster” manual target observation type remains the best, with galaxy coming a close second. The comet and tail are more difficult to view in the images with “nebula” as the target type.
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