Comet 46P / Wirtanen on 30.11.2018

 
  Size: 1800 px      
 
© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2018

46P/Wirtanen is a short-periodic comet with an orbital period of 5.4 years. It was discovered by Carl A. Wirtanen in 1948 at the Lick Observatory. It belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, all of which have aphelia between 5 and 6 AU. Its diameter is estimated to be 1.2 kilometres. 46P/Wirtanen was the original target for the Rosetta spacecraft, but an inability to meet the launch window led to Rosetta being sent to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko instead. This image was taken on November 30th 2018.

Image details:

Annotation

Center of field RA 02:33:28 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE -19:53:36 (deg:m:s)
Size 1.78 x 1.19 (deg)
Pixel scale: 2.99 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation: Up is 66.2 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: 30.11.2018
Location: IRIDA Observatory, BG, longitude: E 24 44' 18", latitude: N 41 41' 42"
Exp. Details: L:1x5 min,R:1x5 min, G:1x5 min, B:1x5 min, Bin 2, Total Exposure Time - 20 min.
More details: Dark and flat frames reduction
Processing: PixInsight / PS
 
Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2013 - 2018. All Rights Reserved
 
e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org
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