Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus)

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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Tucson, Arizona

Date/Time of photo:

20 May 2021, 1012 UT

Equipment:

11" SCT and STF-8300M CCD Camera

Description:

Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) is back in the early morning sky and it still has a nice tail. In these images the comet was about magnitude 15 with a tail greater than 0.3 degrees long to the WSW of the coma, the tail extends beyond the field of view of these images. Comet C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) brightened to magnitude 3 as seen in SOHO images when it reached perihelion in it's 2627 year orbit as it passed 37 million miles from the Sun in December 2020. The comet made it's close approach to Earth in November 2020 at 96 million miles and it was observed at magnitude 5 before being lost in the Sun's glare last December.