C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus (Jason Guenzel)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Taurus (Tau) · Contains: California nebula · IC 353 · IC 360 · Maia nebula · Merope nebula · NGC 1342 · NGC 1432 · NGC 1435 · NGC 1499 · Part of the constellation Perseus (Per) · The star 40Per · The star Atik (ζPer) · The star Atlas (27Tau) · The star Electra (17Tau) · The star Merope (23Tau) · The star Pleione (28Tau) · The star Taygeta (19Tau) · The star ηTau · The star ξPer · The star οPer

Image of the day 02/27/2018

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus, Jason Guenzel

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C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus

Image of the day 02/27/2018

Powered byPixInsight

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus

The comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) was discovered on September 7, 2016 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) atop Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. This visitor to the inner solar system has an orbital period of over 20,000 years and has an inclined orbit relative to the ecliptic. This orbit is highly elliptical and takes the comet on a grand journey extending out to the Oort Cloud. Late in 2017 it was recognized that the comet possessed a vibrant blue tail, possibly the result of carbon monoxide ionization by the sunlight. More recently the tail was observed to have a delicate helical structure due to the rotation of the nucleus while it ejects material.

Instead of focus on these details, I decided it would be a good first light test of my Rokinon 135mm. The field of view allowed me to frame the comet amongst multiple DSO targets and also some interstellar dust lanes. I strapped it to a Canon 6D and let it gulp down the light for a while, but quickly realized what a touchy animal imaging at f/2 is. I struggled to get good correction over the field and I’m still not there. I backed the lens down to f/2.8 to improve the situation a bit.

Having planned to image this for a month, the weather has only allowed me a short window to test and capture. All told, I only managed 65 minutes total on this scene in one session. The future outlook isn’t promising. So this is likely it.... enjoy!

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Image of the day 02/27/2018

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus

Image of the day 02/27/2018

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus

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Image of the day 02/27/2018

C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus

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C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) - A Comet in Taurus

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