Tempel's Faint Dust Trail & Possible Tail @ f/9!!!
Taken by Bill Williams on July 22, 2026 @
Chiefland Astro Village, Florida, USA
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Camera Used: SBIG STL-11000 3 CCD Camera Unavailable
Exposure Time: Unavailable
Aperture: Unavailable
ISO: Unavailable
Date Taken: 2026:07:22 19:05:28
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Details:
When astroimager Chris Schur recently wrote in Spaceweather "most obvious dust trail I have ever seen of 50 years of imaging", he got my attention! The RASA (f/2.2) boys have been tearing this comet dust trail up despite its faintness.
So I figured it would be foolish to attempt to capture this trail with my only current system available namely a 0.37M RCOS at f/9 with 2006 SBIG 11K CCD camera. Nevertheless, this morning after Tropical Storm Bertha moved out of the way, I did 2 hours of exposure from my north Florida observatory binned 2x2.
Sure enough, the faint trail is present running diagonally through my 30 arcminute field! Additionally, there is a faint tail extending southwestward which appears separate from the trail. Chris Schur mentioned a short tail seen in his photo back on July 10, 2026. I never cease to be amazed at the new objects we encounter in astrophotography! I hope that the next great comet pancake trail opportunity with be predictable and I will be better prepared for it!
Photographer's website:
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