Comet C/2017 O1
- rwilkinson
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Comet C/2017 O1
The Ohio State University operates its All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae using a group of automated telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. Although these are designed to hunt for supernovae, on 19-July their survey also found its first comet.
I’ve managed to image it a couple of times, using COAST: By September it's predicted to be 9th magnitude, tracking rapidly though the constellation of Taurus, so we should be able to detect it from Bolton.
I’ve managed to image it a couple of times, using COAST: By September it's predicted to be 9th magnitude, tracking rapidly though the constellation of Taurus, so we should be able to detect it from Bolton.
- rwilkinson
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Re: Comet C/2017 O1
Here's another picture from mid-September (taken from a remote telescope in New Mexico).
But next month it should be a little brighter and rising earlier in the evening.
The comet is currently in Taurus, moving North-East, so it should be well-placed in our Eastern skies after midnight. But next month it should be a little brighter and rising earlier in the evening.
- rwilkinson
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Re: Comet C/2017 O1
This morning I got another data-set back from the COAST telescope:
This comet will be moving into our evening skies next month - look out for details in the next edition of The Bolton Astronomer, which will be out this weekend.
There was an interval after taking the first couple of images and before the final three, hence the gaps in the star-trails.This comet will be moving into our evening skies next month - look out for details in the next edition of The Bolton Astronomer, which will be out this weekend.
- rwilkinson
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Re: Comet C/2017 O1
I managed to catch this comet again in the early hours of this morning, using the COAST facility on Tenerife.
The difficulty of aiming at a fast-moving object with this instrument is setting its target co-ordinates: I'd used its position at around 2am, but my imaging run didn't start until some three hours later, by which time the comet was starting to track out of the frame.
I've made an animation to show how far it moves in 15 minutes:
The difficulty of aiming at a fast-moving object with this instrument is setting its target co-ordinates: I'd used its position at around 2am, but my imaging run didn't start until some three hours later, by which time the comet was starting to track out of the frame.
I've made an animation to show how far it moves in 15 minutes:
- rwilkinson
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Re: Comet C/2017 O1
Now that this comet is in the polar region, I can get it from my own back garden (with one leg of my tripod in a flower-bed!).
Last night I caught it in Camelopardalis: The star-trails show how far it had moved in an hour or so.
Last night I caught it in Camelopardalis: The star-trails show how far it had moved in an hour or so.
Re: Comet C/2017 O1
Nice one Ross, keep them coming
Regards
Bill
Regards
Bill
- rwilkinson
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Re: Comet C/2017 O1
I found this comet again last night. It's quite close to Polaris, which is always an awkward region to access with an equatorial mount, and the difficulty was compounded by a polar alignment error (I suspect that one of the tripod legs had penetrated the frosty surface and sunk into the soft earth beneath after I'd completed my initial alignment).
Nonetheless, I did manage another image of this comet, which is now down to 10th magnitude:
Nonetheless, I did manage another image of this comet, which is now down to 10th magnitude:
- rwilkinson
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Re: Comet C/2017 O1
I managed a longer run last night, with better tracking (but brighter moonlight):