Hi all,

I've just returned from a trip to Argentina with Astro-Trails for the Dec 14 total eclipse. One of the things I wanted to do was capture C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) which was 11 degrees west of the Sun and 2 days after perihelion. It was probably around 5th mag so quite hard to get.

I set up a Sony A7s camera on a fixed tripod with a 100mm, f/2 lens and left it to run during totality on auto. The exposures used were 1/40s and it managed around 2 frames/s. This setup gave a FoV of 21x14 deg.

On Dec 13 Worachate Boonplod found a Kreutz sungrazer in the LASCO C3 images which was designated C/2020 X3 (SOHO), CBET 4897. This sungrazer was visible in images taken during the total eclipse by Andreas Moeller. Moeller was at the same site as me in Argentina.

I have now processed my images and I have captured both comets, with tails, in the stacked eclipse image. The full resolution version of this is here:

http://nickdjames.com/eclipse2020/2020x3_20201214_1609_ndj.jpg

The sky and bulk solar corona background has been removed using an r=8 pixel median subtraction.

Getting one comet during an eclipse is quite unusual. Does anyone know of previous cases where two comets were imaged during an eclipse?

Nick.
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