As Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks begins to disappear from Northern Hemisphere skies, attention will undoubtedly turn to some of the other delights 2024 has in store.
Namely, the re-emergence of the planets into favourable positions in the latter half of the year (about time), but also the potential for Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) to be a big hitter come autumn 2024 (fingers crossed).
As one final farewell and last hurrah, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was due to make an appearance during the April 8 solar eclipse, but also to have a close encounter with the planet Jupiter in the night sky.
Comet photographer José J. Chambó has captured just that: an incredible image showing Pons-Brooks with Jupiter, the Moon and Uranus.
![Image of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks captured by José J. Chambo from Corral de la Muela, Ayora, Valencia, Spain, 10 April 2024, 19:57 UTC. Equipment: Canon EOS 6D DSLR camera, Samyang F2.0/135mm lens, Meade LXD-75 mount. Exposure 19 min. (1 61x18 sec. at ISO 400). Processed with Nebulb
Description:
Farewelling the northern hemisphere skies, barely above the evening horizon, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was part of a beautiful planetary conjunction on April 10, 2024, alongside Jupiter, Uranus, and the two-day-old waxing crescent Moon saturating with its light the long exposure required to reveal the structural details of the comet's tail.
Credit: José J. Chambó (www.cometografia.es)](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/48/2024/04/comet-pons-brooks-moon-jupiter-uranus.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
From our perspective on Earth, celestial bodies often appear close together in the sky, and we call these meetings conjunctions.
This conjunction of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, the Moon and the planets was captured by José on 10 April 2024 at 19:57 UTC from Corral de la Muela, Ayora, Valencia Spain.
![Image of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks captured by José J. Chambo from Corral de la Muela, Ayora, Valencia, Spain, 10 April 2024, 19:57 UTC. Credit: José J. Chambó (www.cometografia.es)](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/48/2024/04/comet-pons-brooks-moon-jupiter-uranus-labelled.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
José says: "Farewelling the northern hemisphere skies, barely above the evening horizon, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was part of a beautiful planetary conjunction on April 10, 2024, alongside Jupiter, Uranus and the two-day-old waxing crescent Moon.
"The long exposure required to reveal the structural details of the comet's tail meant that the light of the Moon and planets was saturated."
Details
- Camera: Canon EOS 6D
- Lens: Samyang F2.0/135mm
- Mount: Meade LXD-75
- Exposure: 19 min. (1+61x18 sec. at ISO 400)
- Processing: Nebulb
See more of José's work at www.cometografia.es
Are you an astrophotographer? Have you captured an image of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks? Don't forget to send us your images!