Comet 186P/Garradd

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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Denver, Colorado

Date/Time of photo:

3 June 2018, 0409UT

Equipment:

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

Description:

Comet 186P/Garradd is another comet that is just above the southern horizon this year as seen from Denver, only getting about 12 degrees above the horizon this year. 186P reaches perihelion in its 11.19 year orbit 5 May 2019 when it will be 408 million miles from the Sun and may reach magnitude 17, but unfortunately if you live from Denver (40N) north 186P will not rise above the horizon in 2019. This collection of 10 five minute images of 186P that resulted in this image was started when the comet was at 10 degrees above the horizon and were finished when the comet was just 6 degrees above the horizon. The comet appeared to be about magnitude 18.5 and was 361 million miles from Earth. The bright, fuzzy object to the right of 186P is magnitude 14.5 Galaxy PGC 39234. The comet was moving at only 0.0029 degrees per hour so I had to wait a 1/2 hour after it got dark for the comet to get far enough away from the star just to the upper left of the comet to start taking images that would show the comet and star as separate objects, hoping while I waited that the low horizon would stay clear enough to take these images. So this image may not be much to look at, but it took a lot of luck to get it.