SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Mike Olason
Location of Photo:
Tucson, Arizona
Date/Time of photo:
15 Aug 2023, 11:35UT
Equipment:
66mm f/6.1 refractor and ST-402ME CCD Camera
Description:
Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) was discovered on August 11 by Hideo Nishimura of Japan. The comet may brighten to magnitude 2 when it reaches perihelion on September 18 as predicted by Seiichi Yoshida. The comet is an early morning object at this time at about magnitude 10, it will brighten quickly and move from being an early morning object before September 13 to an early evening object after September 13. When at perihelion on September 18 and at its brightest the comet will be visible in the evening twilight skies of Tucson low along the western horizon for a short time after the Sun has set, the comet will only be about 20 million miles from the Sun. The comet will be visible in our western Tucson early evening skies from September 13-24. If the comet does brighten to magnitude 2 it may still be hard to see in the bright twilight before it sets. The 10 second image was taken on the morning of 2023 Aug 15 at 4:35 AM local time through a hole in the clouds with a 66mm f/6.1 refractor and an ST-402ME CCD Camera. The field of view of the image was 1/2 x 1/2 degree. The comet was magnitude 10.6 as calculated by Astrometrica software.
