Comet C/2014 Q1 PANSTARRS
Taken by Michael Mattiazzo on July 15, 2015 @
Swan Hill, Australia
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Details:
Despite comet C/2014 Q1 PANSTARRS being 5th magnitude, it was not visible to the naked eye due to twilight.
I estimated its brightness at magnitude 5.2 through 8x40mm binoculars.
The view through my larger 25x100mm binoculars showed a lovely parabolic
dust hood about half a degree to the East.
Photographically through a Canon 60Da + Sigma 200mm lens and 5 minute exposure, the comet showed 3 separate tails, a forked ion tail about 1.5 degrees long.
Embedded within this was the main dust tail about half a degree long to the East
and an unusual feature at right angles to the main tail- a broad "dust
trail" 1 degree long to the North.
This trail is due to heavy particle release and is an indicator of erosion
When I took these photos, it was at 19 degrees elongation from the Sun, which is now steadily increasing.
Photographer's website:
http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm
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