Comet  45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
in the Evening sky
March 1, 2017

 Now becoming extremely diffuse and fading fast, this comet displays a tail and coma that is unique in charecter and form. There is a short anti tail seen here projecting to the lower left of the nucleus, and a very broad gas and dust fan spreading out to the right. The field here is 1 degree. Although the nuclear region appears distinct here, visually it is not visible and the comet is a VERY low surface brightness object.

 Click here for a larger 1290 sized image

Field here is about 1 degree
Lens: 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph with Baader MPCC coma corrector Platform: Astrophysics AP1200 Camera: SBIG ST10XME Exposure: 62m Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 4/10, Transparency 8/10 Outside Temperature: 30F Processing Tools: Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2 HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS