Imaging 3I atlas with my S50, in Rockwood, Tx & Unistellar EQ2 in Columbia, MO on Dec. 21, 2025

Описание: It’s a clear night in Rockwood, Texas, and briefly clear in Columbia, Missouri. I’m imaging 3I/Atlas two days after it reached its closest point to Earth, using my Seestar S50 in Rockwood, TX, and my Unistellar Equinox 2 in Columbia, MO.

The Seestar S50 has a 50 mm aperture, while the Unistellar Equinox 2 has a 114 mm aperture. The S50 is located at Starfront Observatories under Bortle 1 skies and the Equinox 2 is operating in Columbia, MO under Bortle 7 skies. The S50 does have better resolution visually. If I go back a couple of days and look at the broadcast with the S50 in Columbia, MO, the S50 still holds it own with the Unistellar Equinox 2. The eQuinox 2 uses the Sony IMX347 sensor (4.17 MP) and the S50 uses the Sony IMX462 CMOS sensor (2.07 MP).

FYI: The Seestar app’s built-in coordinates do not properly center 3I/Atlas; it typically ends up near the edge of the frame. To fix this, use the J2000 coordinates from TheSkyLive web site (https://theskylive.com/c2025n1-info) and enter them into the Seestar app using the My Favorites option to ensure proper centering. Aslo, the Unistellar Equinox 2 app does not currently list 3I/Atlas in its sky map, so the J2000 coordinates must be entered manually there as well.

If you are interested in processing the raw data from 3I Atlas from this imaging session, use the link below which is good until 12/21/2026.

https://we.tl/t-7SULqH3qyT