Astropixel Processor and Photoshop

29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann two days before its occultation of a 12th magnitude star. This was an image to test exposures for the graze expected in NM as the track of the occultation occurred to the south on the Mexican border. The graze images are aimed to be shorter, but this test run had the opportunity to focus on photography and resulted in an image of the comet in color framed by the star background. 29P has had two major outbursts in recent weeks resulting in the coma seen in this image. This is a Centaur in orbit around the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. It is a still mysterious object with cryovolcanic outbursts that occur several times a year with the most recent one one of the largest in a decade of observations. Mission 29P of the British Astronomical Association is an excellent resource on 29P: https://britastro.org/section_information_/comet-section-overview/mission-29p-2/mission-29p-centaur-comet-observing-campaign