Comet C/2017 K2 PanSTARRS

[Bill S]

I have had few opportunities to do some observing for some weeks but I had cleaned the mirrors of my Newtonian and wanted to check things were something like. I managed a session just after midnight (BST) 20/21 June.  Not astronomically dark so concentrated on a few brightish objects including M27 and M57. Having been to the Webb Deep Sky meeting on Saturday in Cambridge I was full of enthusiasm for planetary nebulae but decided to leave a good look around for darker nights.

The brightest comet around looks to be C/2017 K2 PanSTARRS. It's about mag nine in Ophiuchus, 1.9228au from Earth and 2.8560au from the Sun. 15 second subs showed it well and Jocular allowed me to remove three subs spoiled by a satellite trail. Hyper stretch brought out the magnificent coma and evidence of a tail. It should be at its brightest, mag 8, in December but will only be visible in the southern hemisphere.

It may not have been dark but at least it was warm.

7 x 15 seconds 200mm Newtonian ~f/3.5 Lodestar X2, Starlight Live + Jocular.

Bill S

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by Bill S
Added instrument and exposure details.

[Mike JW]

Excellent. Fired me up to take a look.

Mike