Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ophiuchus (Oph)  ·  Contains:  Solar system body or event
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs, Michael J. Mangieri
Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs
Powered byPixInsight

Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs, Michael J. Mangieri
Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs
Powered byPixInsight

Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) is an Oort cloud comet with an inbound hyperbolic orbit, discovered in May 2017 at a distance beyond the orbit of Saturn when it was 16 AU (2.4 billion km) from the Sun. It had been in the constellation of Draco from July 2007 until August 2020. As of June 2022, the estimated distance of the comet from the Sun is ±5000 km. The comet is record breaking because it is already becoming active at such a distance. Only comet Hale–Bopp produced such a show from that distance with a similar nucleus. However, this comet will not be as visible as Hale–Bopp was in 1997 in part because it does not come nearly as close to the Sun.

On its way to perihelion, C/2017 K2 is currently shining at about mag 7. Missing is the typical greenish glow of a comet's halo that comes from diatomic carbon (C2), a simple yet unstable form of elementary carbon. C/2017 K2 is too far from the sun for the reaction to occur.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs, Michael J. Mangieri