Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS April 08, 2020

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Photographer:

Rod Pommier

Location of Photo:

Pommier Observatory, Portland, OR, USA

Date/Time of photo:

2020-04-08 05:00hrs UT

Equipment:

Celestron Compustar C14 with Starizona LF reducer/corrector (f/7,5). SBIG STL 11000 CCD camera with Baader Planetarium RGB filters. Exposures: RGB=55:50:50 minutes=2 hours 35 minutes total exposure.

Description:

This image of comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS on April 08, 2020 shows an elongated nucleus within the blue-green coma. This is considered an ominous sign that the nucleus may be fragmenting. The Hubble Space Telescope caught images of the nucleus breaking into multiple pieces on April 20, 2020. Besides the nucleus and blue-green coma, a faint dust tail can be seen trailing behind the comet with some reddish tinge. The comet is passing the constellation Camelopardalis and many faint galaxies lying at distances of approximately 500 million light-years can be seen in the background giving the image a tremendous depth of field.Comet coordinates at the time of this exposure were RA 07h:06 min and Ded +67:40.

Website:

www.rodpommier.com