Comet Pons-Brooks on Aug 18, 2023


Date & Time: Aug 18 2023, from 22:46 to 24:12 JST(+0900)
Composed 5 shots with 6 minutes exposed
Optical: TAKAHASHI 16cm(6.3") epsilon (f=530mm, F3.3)
with IDAS LPS-D1 Light-pollution suppression filter
Auto-guided with TAKAHASHI EM-200 Equatorial & Lacerta M-GEN
CMOS Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro (Cooled temp.: -10°C)
Location: Koumi town, Nagano pref.

Camera Settings: Recording format...16bit FITS, converted to 16bit TIFF(6248×4176)
Device Size...23.5×15.7mm, Gain...100


The comet Pons-Brooks, captured in its first-ever photograph on this day, is located in the quadrilateral region of the head of Draco. Due to the burst event on July 20, 2023, it was observed at a brightness of magnitude 12, significantly brighter than the predicted magnitude of 15. The visual diameter of the outer shell of the coma, which expanded due to the burst, is approximately 8 arcminutes.
While the comet will gradually decrease in brightness from this point onward, it is expected to undergo a brightening phase starting around November, as it approaches Earth. It is anticipated to reach a maximum magnitude of 4 to 5 by the spring of 2024.
This image has been cropped with an equivalent focal length of 1000mm.
View angle: 1.35×0.9°


Pons-Brooks on Sep 17, 2023
Hartley 2 on Dec 8, 2023

Copyright(c) 2023 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
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