Comet C/2019 Y4 Atlas, is moving through the Constellation of Ursa Major & is currently shining at 8th magnitude, you need binoculars or a small telescope to see the Comet, but it is brightening rapidly and this Comet is expected to become Naked eye by Mid May of 2020.
The Comet’s Coma (Green Cloud of Gas) is already half the size of the Sun 720,000 km at 1.1 AU and continues to grow as it heads towards perihelion with Sun in May.
We haven’t had a Comet with a Coma this big since Comet Holmes back in 2007…it had a Coma bigger than the Sun.
Comet Atlas C/2019 Y4 will be quite a show in the early morning North Eastern sky, as long as the Comet survives and doesn’t break apart. Get out your binoculars and telescopes.
In my shot here I was Tracking on the Nucleus of the comet from my backyard observatory MPC#838 in Dayton, Ohio. I included a cropped close-up shot as well.
The comet is showing strong activity in it Nucleus, the “Green” Coma is about 15 arc/minutes in diameter and growing, Comet Atlas is also sporting a small but very noticeable tail.
03-26-2020 from 01:07 to 01:46 U.T. / 03-25-2020 from 09:07pm to 09:46pm E.S.T.
QHY183C Cooled Color Cmos Camera & Bisque MyT Mount, C6 Newtonian Telescope, F5 , 20 x 120 second exposures.
Best Regards,
John Chumack
