A Comet in Octans
| Exposure: 12 Minutes | Field of View: 19.4 x 19.4 arcmin | Image date: 2021-06-12 |
It’s not often I would image anything in Octans – the constellation which is famous for including the South Celestial Pole but very little else. However, a comet was passing through the constellation about 8° from the Pole and I decided to have a hunt for it, in between a couple of other images I took last night.
It’s a faint and fuzzy ball of ice & rock, three astronomical units (457.1 million km) away. At magnitude 14.8, it is about 1,600 times less bright than the faintest stars you can see with the naked eye.
It’s at dead centre in the inverted image above. Now I’m off to look for something a bit brighter…..
Thanks for reading 🙃
Telescope & Imaging Details
| Telescope: | SkyWatcher Esprit 120 mm apochromatic 3-element refractor; 840 mm f/l @ f/7. |
| Optics: | Field flattener; ZWO Duo-band Hα (656nm) and [OIII] (500nm) filter. |
| Mount & Guiding: | SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; ZWO ASI120 guide camera. |
| Imaging camera: | ZWO ASI 071 MC Pro (CMOS 28.4mm 16 Mpx). |
| Software: | Control: Cartes du Ciel, ASCOM, EQMOD, PHD2. Imaging: SharpCap, Gimp. |
| Observatory: | 34° South. |
Images © Roger Powell
I’m one of the founder members of Macarthur Astronomical Society and current webmaster.
Cosmic Focus 
. . . looks a lot like the floaters in my eyes . . .
Now I can imagine they are comets and other celestial bodies.
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I always thought of them as tadpoles.
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I don’t think that mental image would comfort me.
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I’ve always enjoyed the hunt for these objects – you know where they are, but have to wait for the image stacking to confirm you’ve actually found them. Not as glamorous as Eta Carinae, but still satisfying!
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There don’t seem to be any bright comets around at the moment but this rather modest image has given me a reference magnitude to work with and the confidence to try other (perhaps brighter) comets.
Thanks for your comment. 🙂
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Talk about going deep! Impressive.
I’m waiting for the next great comet. I hear you might get one in December 2022 – C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) – coming in from 0.8 light years away.
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Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on that one. It’s currently in Hercules.
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