Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks and Jupiter
Taken by Mike Olason on April 9, 2024 @
Tucson, Arizona
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Details:
This week is "your" chance to easily find Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks near Jupiter in our western evening sky as it gets dark with a pair of binoculars. Last evening I used a very small pair of 8x21 binoculars to see the comet, the comet had a bright star like nucleus surrounded by the fuzzy coma and a short tail to the upper right as it was 5 degrees below Jupiter as you can see from the picture. The comet will not look like the picture in your binoculars because this picture has a field of view of 11 x 7 degrees and is composed of 10 images each 60 seconds long taken thru a small camera lens. But you should be able to see the central bright area of the comet, the fuzzy coma around the comet and a short tail to the upper right of the comet. On the evenings of April 10,11 the comet will be 4 degrees below (west) of Jupiter as it starts to get dark at about 745PM. On the evenings of April 12,13,14 the comet will be 3 degrees to the lower left (southwest) of Jupiter and on April 15,16,17 the comet will be 4-5 degrees left (south) of Jupiter. As it starts to get dark at 745PM the comet is only 10 degrees above the western horizon and that is the best time to start trying to find the comet, the comet sets at 845PM. Jupiter is the brightest "star" in our skies and is above the western horizon in the evenings now. This evening April 10 the 7% illuminated crescent Moon is only 5 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter, so you hit the jackpot of viewing if you take a look at the comet this evening.
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