Closest Approach of Comet 41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresák at Magnitude 8.6 in the Constellation of Draco.
Comet 41P is still visible in Binoculars from a dark location, it is heading for Perihelion on the 12th of April.
On April 1st – 2nd, the comet passed by Earth at a distance of about 13 million miles (0.14 astronomical units), or 55 times the distance from Earth to the moon; An unusually closer approach for this Jupiter-family comet. Comets are frozen balls of Ice, Gas, & Dust that start to sublimate when heated by the sunlight as they approach the inner solar system.
The green color is the Comet P41 Spewing C2 Diatomic Carbon which glows green when lit by the sun in the Vacuum of Space!
Here is my shot of Comet 41P as it passed within 13 arc minutes of 4.58 Magnitude Star 10 Draconis, & 4.7 Magnitude Double Star WDS HJ 3342 (WDS = Washington Double star Catalog)
Taken with my Homemade 16 inch Diameter Newtonian Telescope and a Canon 6D DSLR,
20 frames x 30 second exposures (10 minutes) stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, comet Mode.
Captured from 08:26 U.T. to 08:46 U.T. at my Observatories at JBSPO in Yellow Springs, Ohio
Yellow Springs Research Station, MPC #H66
Best Regards,
John Chumack
www.galacticimages.com
