LCO Comet Images -- 1

COMET RESOURCE CENTER

IMAGE GALLERY -- LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY

In November 2017 I began utilizing the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network for the remote imaging of comets and other astronomical phenomena. On this page (and subsequent pages) I will post images of some of the comets I successfully image, primarily those that are bright enough for visual observations and that I am able to add to my tally.

LEFT: Comet Heinze C/2017 T1 (no. 634) on November 22, 2017, from the South African Astronomical Observatory. The bright galaxies are NGC 2697 (center left) and NGC 2695 (below right). RIGHT: Comet Jacques C/2017 K6 (no. 637) on November 24, 2017, also from the South African Astronomical Observatory. I obtained both of these images several weeks before I visually added the comets to my tally.

Comet 174P/Echeclus P/2000 EC98 (no. 374) on December 12, 2017 from McDonald Observatory in Texas; the comet is the small diffuse object below center. This Centaur comet underwent its fourth recorded outburst (and third that I have observed) earlier in December; it reached 14th magnitude, the brightest outburst it has exhibited thus far.

Comet P/Phaethon P/(3200) (no. 633) on December 13, 2017, from McDonald Observatory in Texas, three days before passing 0.069 AU from Earth. The above two images were taken one minute apart; Phaethon (brightest object in the images, in the center) exhibits distinct motion.

LEFT: 1999 AF4, an "asteroid" in a cometary orbit, on January 6, 2018, from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile; it is the stellar object just below center. The object had passed 0.114 AU from Earth three days earlier and I visually observed it on two occasions at magnitude 14.5. RIGHT: Comet PANSTARRS C/2016 R2 (no. 628) on January 8, 2018, from the South African Astronomical Observatory. Structure in the ion tail is clearly visible.

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