Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) on 23.05.2020 near M 82 and M81

 
  Size: 1600 px      
 
© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2020

Comet C/2017 T2 was discovered on October 2nd 2017 by Pan-STARRS 1 telescope (Haleakala). By the time of discovery it was 19.9m.. Recent observation (Manzini et al., 2020) with the 1.82m Copernico telescope (OAPD-INAF) of the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory (MPC 098, Italy) on 29.85 April 2020 reveal some circular structures, concentric to the comet’s optocenter. This finding may be suggestive of a strong activity modulated by a rotation of the nucleus with a spin axis directed towards the Earth in this period. At the time of writing this C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) was in the constellation of Ursa Major with a visual brightness of 8.3 mag. The image taken in IRIDAObservatory on 23th of May 2020 at 20:30 UTC, shows the comet in a close visual encounter with the galaxies M81 and M82. We were surprised because there is an evidence of a fine anti-tail visually pointed forward.

Image details:

Annotation

Center of field RA 09:58:59 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE +69:32:46 (deg:m:s)
Size 1.96 x 1.3 (deg)
Pixel scale: 2.99 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation: Up is 67 degrees E of N
Charts and image details obtained from Astrometry.net
Optic(s): ASA 12" Astrograph @ f/3.6 (Newton)
Mount: ASA DDM85 Standard
Camera: SBIG STL 11000 M
Filters: Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, Astronomik filters
Dates/Times: 23.05.2020
Location: IRIDA Observatory, BG, longitude: E 24 44' 18", latitude: N 41 41' 42"
Exp. Details: L:10x3 min,R:10x3 min, G:10x3 min, B:10x3 min, Bin 2, Total Exposure Time - 120 min.,
More details: Dark and flat frames reduction
Processing: PixInsight / PS
 
Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2013 - 2020. All Rights Reserved
 
e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org
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