Solar System Objects
C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS)
Target details
Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS) has been gradually brightening over the past few months, some speculate that it will reach naked-eye brightness in May 2020. Comets brightness changes are notoriously difficult to predict so we will have to wait and see.
When these images were taken the comet was 250 million km (1.6AU) from Earth. These are just two minute exposures and the tail of the comet is starting to show.
Capture details
Data captured 26 January, 2020.
14x 2 minute exposures with Luminance filter.
Images captured between 6pm & 7pm.
Total Exposure = 0.5 hours.
Equipment details
Skywatcher Quattro 200 CF
NEQ6 Pro
Atik 428EX Mono
Skywatcher ST-80
QHY5L-II
Processing details
This image was processed in Pixinsight & PIP.
Calibration in Pixinsight using Batch PreProcessing.
STF & Histogram Transformation - To Apply an AutoSTF.
Dynamic Crop - To remove reduce FoV.
All images saved as JPEG and imported into PIPP.
Framerate set to 5fps.
Exported as full resolution AVI & GIF, image on this website is GIF. The AVI is much smoother but unfortunately my website doesn't currently support videos.
Quick facts
- What is C/2017 T2?
- Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS) has been gradually brightening over the past few months, some speculate that it will reach naked-eye brightness in May 2020. Comets brightness changes are notoriously difficult to predict so we will have to wait and see.
- What are its catalogue names?
- C/2017 T2
- When was this photo taken?
- 26 January 2020
- How long was the total exposure?
- 0.5 hours
- What equipment was used?
- Skywatcher Quattro 200 CF, NEQ6 Pro, Atik 428EX Mono, Skywatcher ST-80, QHY5L-II
- Where was it taken from?
- Lisburn, Northern Ireland.