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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Tucson, Arizona

Date/Time of photo:

7 June 2021, 0433 UT

Equipment:

11" SCT and STF-8300M CCD Camera

Description:

It is not very often that one can image a comet near aphelion (farthest distance from the Sun in it's orbit) but Comet 47P/Ashbrook-Jackson's distance from Earth and the orbits of the Earth and the comet resulted in it brightening to magnitude 19 in the past few months as seen from Earth. In these images the comet was magnitude 19.6 and 507 million miles from the Earth. The comet will be at aphelion in it's 8.38 year orbit in August 2021 when it will be 505 million miles from the Sun. The comet is now fading quickly in Earth's skies and will not be observable by those with modest imaging equipment until it's next perihelion approach in several years.

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