Comet C/2017 T1 Heinze 21 Million Miles from Earth

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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Denver, Colorado

Date/Time of photo:

3 January 2018, 0718UT

Equipment:

11" SCT f/6.4 and STF-8300M CCD Camera

Description:

Comet C/2017 T1 Heinze was 21 million miles from Earth the night before it's close approach to Earth when these GIF images were taken. Comet Heinze has it's close appraoch to Earth on January 4 when it will be about 20 million miles from Earth. Unfortunately, the Full Moon was only 42 degrees from the comet when these images were taken. The images were only 20 seconds long to not show a streaked comet because the comet was moving at 0.31 degrees per hour to the northwest. The short images and Full Moon resulted in the tail being washed out in this GIF of 8 images each 20 seconds long with a 5 minute interval between images. The tail is to the left of the comet coma in this GIF.