29p 20170301 jdrummond

I took my first images of 29P as it starts to climb into the morning sky an hour ago (2017 March 01.6 UT). The comet looks like it underwent an outburst – perhaps (at a very rough guess) a week ago. Astrometry is below. Note that I could only use two of the five exposures - 35cm Meade ACF SCT, SBIG STL11000M, 2 min exp, Clear, 3x3 (0.93”/pixel), –20C. It was only ~6 degrees above the SE horison – right where 15km away Gisborne’s glow is...