Comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) on 19.01.2018

 
  Size: 1800 px      
 
© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2018

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) was discovered on September 7, 2016, using the Pan-STARRS telescopes. The comet has recently attracted attention from many astronomers as it approaches its closest point to the sun in May 2018. It has a very complex tail, which has been suggested to be due to a fast rotation of the nucleus. The comet was called "the blue comet" because of the rare bluish colour, which is due to the unusually abundant ionized carbon monoxide (CO+) molecules fluorescing in the sunlight.

Image details:

Annotation

Center of field RA 04:07:42 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE +19:38:42 (deg:m:s)
Size 1.84 x 1.22 (deg)
Pixel scale: 2.99 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation: Up is 249 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: 19. Jan. 2018 02:00 UT
Location: IRIDA Observatory, BG, longitude: E 24 44' 18", latitude: N 41 41' 42"
Exp. Details: L:4x3min., R:4x3 min, G:4x3 min, B:4x3 min, Bin 2, Total Exposure Time - 48 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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