ASTRO: C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS)

Comet C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) was discovered back on May 19, 2012 by, of
course, the Pan-STARRS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-STARRS)
telescope when it was nearly as far from the sun as Saturn, 8.7 AU. It
has been falling in toward the sun ever since and for thousands of years
prior to its discovery. It will reach its closest approach to the sun
on August 27 when it will still be further from the sun than the earth
but not by much. We will be 1.01 AU from the sun while the comet is
1.05 AU, a difference of less than 4 million miles. But it will be on
the opposite side of the sun at that time so twice that distance from us
and lost in the sun's glare. It was still a bit over 2.17 AU from the
sun and 1.5 AU from the earth when I took this image. Though this was
about the time of its closest approach to us. That will happen about
May 4 when it will be 1.47 AU from us. The difference is immaterial.
Right now it is off the handle of the Big Dipper so well positioned in
the sky all night. Actually it will again approach the earth about
Halloween night when it will be slightly closer to us 0.953 AU. While
receding from the sun it likely will be about at its brightest at this
time though southern hemisphere viewers will see it as its declination
will be about 48 degrees south putting it well below my southern
horizon. Due to this double pass by us it will reach opposition twice
this year. Once has already happened on April 15 and the other will be
November 7. Two oppositions a year are a rarity. I can't recall
another time it has happened. Someone will likely remind me of one.

While it was well positioned all night, for some reason I scheduled
these images to be taken just before dawn after the three main objects
for the night. But dummy managed to get the time of dawn off by an
hour. There was actually no time before dawn as it was well under way
and may have severely hurt the green color data from the previous
object. Fortunately that is the color most easily fixed. But it meant
the comet was taken in rather bright skies. This greatly limited the
detail. In fact only the first 10 minute frame was usable. After that
the sky was too bright and clouds were moving in. The combination
doomed the attempt. I have only one 10 minute frame that just barely
shows some tantalizing detail of a second tail. I see a hint of a thin
nearly vertical band running from the core straight south from the
nucleus. Checking I find the line does point back to where the sun was
located in the east northeast sky at the time the image was taken. This
would indicate this line may be a faint ion tail. The bright tail is at
quite an angle to the sun. It appears it may be starting out almost due
south then swinging to the southeast. It is now horrid weather here so
no way I can try again for quite some time. By then the near full moon
will be in the sky doing as much damage as dawn did.

If you have decent weather and live where you can see the Big Dipper
now's the time to get out the binoculars and look for the comet. Here's
a basic finder chart:
http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net...ng-580x498.jpg
Precise positions are available from the Minor Planet Center's
Ephemeris service: http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html
Enter only C/2012 K1 without (PANSTARRS) also the name is case
sensitive. It will give you the elements ready for loading into most
planetarium programs as well. Dates must be year-month-day order.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=1x10, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick
--
Prefix is correct. Domain is arvig dot net

Rick,

nice image of this comet. I also imaged it some weeks ago, but didn't bother
to process a final picture after stacking the luminance image.

Stefan


"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

Comet C/2012 K1 (PANSTARRS) was discovered back on May 19, 2012 by, of
course, the Pan-STARRS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-STARRS)
telescope when it was nearly as far from the sun as Saturn, 8.7 AU. It
has been falling in toward the sun ever since and for thousands of years
prior to its discovery. It will reach its closest approach to the sun
on August 27 when it will still be further from the sun than the earth
but not by much. We will be 1.01 AU from the sun while the comet is
1.05 AU, a difference of less than 4 million miles. But it will be on
the opposite side of the sun at that time so twice that distance from us
and lost in the sun's glare. It was still a bit over 2.17 AU from the
sun and 1.5 AU from the earth when I took this image. Though this was
about the time of its closest approach to us. That will happen about
May 4 when it will be 1.47 AU from us. The difference is immaterial.
Right now it is off the handle of the Big Dipper so well positioned in
the sky all night. Actually it will again approach the earth about
Halloween night when it will be slightly closer to us 0.953 AU. While
receding from the sun it likely will be about at its brightest at this
time though southern hemisphere viewers will see it as its declination
will be about 48 degrees south putting it well below my southern
horizon. Due to this double pass by us it will reach opposition twice
this year. Once has already happened on April 15 and the other will be
November 7. Two oppositions a year are a rarity. I can't recall
another time it has happened. Someone will likely remind me of one.

While it was well positioned all night, for some reason I scheduled
these images to be taken just before dawn after the three main objects
for the night. But dummy managed to get the time of dawn off by an
hour. There was actually no time before dawn as it was well under way
and may have severely hurt the green color data from the previous
object. Fortunately that is the color most easily fixed. But it meant
the comet was taken in rather bright skies. This greatly limited the
detail. In fact only the first 10 minute frame was usable. After that
the sky was too bright and clouds were moving in. The combination
doomed the attempt. I have only one 10 minute frame that just barely
shows some tantalizing detail of a second tail. I see a hint of a thin
nearly vertical band running from the core straight south from the
nucleus. Checking I find the line does point back to where the sun was
located in the east northeast sky at the time the image was taken. This
would indicate this line may be a faint ion tail. The bright tail is at
quite an angle to the sun. It appears it may be starting out almost due
south then swinging to the southeast. It is now horrid weather here so
no way I can try again for quite some time. By then the near full moon
will be in the sky doing as much damage as dawn did.

If you have decent weather and live where you can see the Big Dipper
now's the time to get out the binoculars and look for the comet. Here's
a basic finder chart:
http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net...ng-580x498.jpg
Precise positions are available from the Minor Planet Center's
Ephemeris service: http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html
Enter only C/2012 K1 without (PANSTARRS) also the name is case
sensitive. It will give you the elements ready for loading into most
planetarium programs as well. Dates must be year-month-day order.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=1x10, STL-11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick
--
Prefix is correct. Domain is arvig dot net