Comet Catalina in Pictures: Stargazer Views of Comet C/2013 US10

Comet Catalina on Nov. 22, 2015

Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) was discovered on Oct. 31, 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey. It reached perihelion on Nov. 15, 2015 and is currently visible in telescope views from Earth. See photos of the comet from stargazers here. THIS IMAGE: Astrophotographer Chris Schur caught Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) on Nov 22, 2015, from his location in Payson, Arizona. He writes in an email message to Space.com: "Here is one of the first shots of this comet post-perihelion taken in this country of the new Comet Catalina emerging from the bright glare of the morning twilight for the first time. I had set up the night before, and at 5:45 am this morning, dialed the position of the comet in with the (gulp) manual setting circles and put in an eyepiece and - it was BARELY visible. Fortunately the camera did a much better job and recorded not only the comet as a nice green head, but both a gas and dust tails as well. Within 5 minutes, it was all over, and by 5:50 it was too light out to even image it."

Comet Catalina by Richard Tyson

Catch Comet Catalina in the sky over the next several weeks. Amateur astronomer Rich Tyson snapped this image from the Slooh Observatories on the Canary Islands Dec. 12.

Comet Catalina on Dec. 6, 2015

Astrophotographer Chris Schur caught C/2013 US10 (Catalina) on Dec. 6, 2015, from his location in Payson, Arizona. He writes in an email message to Space.com: "Another shot of this comet, but much deeper now, 30 minutes integration time. The comet is visible easily in the binoculars but not so much the tails. Field here is 2 x 3 degrees."

Comet Catalina and Arcturus, January 2016

Friday, January 1, dawn. Comet Catalina will pass very close to the bright star Arcturus in Boötes. It will spend most of the month close to the Big Dipper.

Comet Catalina, Venus, Geminid by Demeter

Astrophotographer Derek Demeter took this image of Comet Catalina in December, 2015 from Chiefland Florida.

Comet Catalina, Venus, and the Moon

Astrophotographer Greg Hogan caught Comet Catalina (bottom), Venus (center), and the moon (top). on Dec. 7, 2015, from Kathleen, Georgia. He writes in an email to Space.com: "I was able to get what I think is a great shot of this morning's conjunction of Catalina, Venus and the moon. I did one short exposure to expose for the moon. I then merged the two images to over lap to get the lunar details. I used a Canon 7D on a EQ Mount for tracking. I stacked the image in DEEP SKY STACKER and balanced the exposures using Lightroom 4."

Comet Catalina on Dec. 2, 2015

Astrophotographer Chris Schur caught C/2013 US10 (Catalina) on Dec. 2, 2015, from his location in Payson, Arizona. He writes in an email message to Space.com: " ... this image shows how the separation between dust and gas tails in this coming comet has changed dramatically from even a few weeks ago. The gas or ion component points to the upper left, and dust part to the lower [right], and is more yellowish and stubby. We have great things to look forward to in the coming weeks!"

Comet Catalina on Dec. 4, 2015

Astrophotographer Greg Hogan caught Comet Catalina on Dec. 4, 2015, from Kathleen, Georgia.