Comet 10P/Tempel
Taken by José J. Chambó on May 17, 2026 @
Valencia, Spain
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Periodic comet 10P/Tempel, imaged on May 17, 2026, was shining at around magnitude 14 as it moved quietly through the rich star fields of Aquila, close to the Milky Way's dense stellar backdrop.
This is my first image of 10P/Tempel during its 2026 return. Although the comet was already becoming more active, it still appeared as a tiny object that barely stood out against the overwhelming number of stars in this part of the sky. Its presence was revealed mainly by a small, intensely green coma with a well-defined central condensation, a clear sign of ongoing activity from the nucleus.
The crowded field made both the observation and image processing particularly challenging. Among the thousands of background stars lies another object that motivated the off-centre framing: the globular cluster Palomar 11, visible on the left side of the image as a compact concentration of stars. Despite its integrated brightness of about magnitude 9.8, it remains one of the more inconspicuous members of the Palomar globular cluster catalogue. Located at roughly the same galactocentric distance as our Solar System, it adds an interesting sense of depth to the scene while sharing the field with a much closer and far more transient visitor.
10P/Tempel @ 2026-May-17, 02:53 UT
Total Mag= 13.7 [aperture 61"], Dia.= 1 (Tycho Tracker)
TS-Photon 8" f/4, Atik 383L+. L=35x60s RGB=1x120s, FOV=65x49'(crop), N:Up E:Left. OAV, Valencia (Spain). J. Chambó.
Photographer's website:
https://cometografia.es
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