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Observation by Thomas Lehmann: Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu has shown a p...

Uploaded by

BAA Comet Section

Observer

Thomas Lehmann

Observed

2021 May 30 - 00:00

Uploaded

2021 Jun 08 - 22:20

Objects

117P Helin-Roman-Alu

Planetarium overlay









Constellation

Virgo

Field centre

RA: 12h56m
Dec: +00°01'
Position angle: +0°01'

Field size

2°07' × 1°30'

Full filename

117p/117p_20210530_tlehmann.jpg

Target name

117P Helin-Roman-Alu

Title

Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu has shown a prominent dust tail for the last few months. On images taken May 11th I have noticed a faint glitch of a very long tail but the images were taken using a green filter primarily for photomtry. So i decided to get much deeper images but had to wait until end of May. And here it is. I managed to get exposures for 1/2 hour using a fast 8 inch scope (with L filter) remotely from Namibia. The dust in the orbital plane of the comet is clearly visible and extends beyond image border. The visible length of 1.8 degrees corresponds to ~8 Mio Km (projected on the sky sphere). Earth has been crossing the comets plane around May 20th.

About this image
Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu has shown a prominent dust tail for the last few months. On images taken May 11th I have noticed a faint glitch of a very long tail but the images were taken using a green filter primarily for photomtry. So i decided to get much deeper images but had to wait until end of May. And here it is. I managed to get exposures for 1/2 hour using a fast 8 inch scope (with L filter) remotely from Namibia. The dust in the orbital plane of the comet is clearly visible and extends beyond image border. The visible length of 1.8 degrees corresponds to ~8 Mio Km (projected on the sky sphere). Earth has been crossing the comets plane around May 20th.
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