Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta Spacecraft and Philae Lander passing between M66 and NGC 3628

Photographer

Mike Olason

Location of photo

Denver Colorado

Date/Time of photo

2016/04/07 0756UT and 0859UT

Equipment

11" SC Telescope and STF-8300M CCD Camera

Description

18th magnitude Comet 67P and the fantastic European Space Agency Rosetta Mission / Philae Lander passing between two 10th magnitude galaxies, spiral M66 and edge-on NGC 3628. The 2 layered images have different brightness and contrast in an attempt to show comet and galaxies as best as possible given how faint the comet is compared to the galaxies. The comet does have a 0.1 degree tail below the coma.