This image I planned very long, but despite precise planning, thousands of kilometers of driving, and good equipment I always failed due to bad weather. But on 19 March 2024, I finally succeeded. So what is so special in this view? Obviously, the celestial visitor, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with its beautiful tail, appears over mountains, illuminated by gentle moonlight. While on the right, Kežmarský štít (alt. 2 558 m) can be seen, on the left it is accompanied by higher Lomnický štít (alt. 2 634 m). If you take a closer look, on the summit of Lomnický štít is a building. In fact, it is one of the highest-located astronomical observatories in central Europe. Between 1946 and 1959, just in the period when comet Pons-Brooks visited our Solar System last time, several other comets were discovered in this magical mountainous place. The image was taken from Veľká Lomnica, about 11 km away from the summit.

Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, 1.4x Teleconverter, ISO 2000, 42x20s (comet, tracked on Vixen Polarie U) plus 7x20s (tracking was off for foreground image).

Data stacked and blended