Contains:  Solar system body or event
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Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res, Freestar8n
Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res, Freestar8n

Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res

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Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res, Freestar8n
Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res, Freestar8n

Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res

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Description

This is comet C/2017 k2 PANSTARRS on July 5, 2022 from Melbourne Australia.  24 x 300s exposures through Clear filter with EdgeHD11 at f/10, ASI1600MMPro, and 0.28" per pixel.  The comet is moving quickly but was tracked tightly by OAG guiding on a nearby star with MetaGuide and shift-guiding set to the known motion of the comet.

My goal was to reveal structure or jets in the central coma but despite applying wavelets and other filters I didn't see anything.

This is a straight stack with no processing other than level stretch in photoshop.  Note how bright and small the central part of the coma is.  It may seem as if the nucleus is resolved but it is far too small to see.  The central bright spot is around 2.9" fwhm in the stack.

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Comet C/2017 k2 up close and high res, Freestar8n