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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Tucson, Arizona

Date/Time of photo:

2026 March 3, 1243UT

Equipment:

50mm f/5 Refractor and IMX462 camera

Description:

Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) is now getting out of the atmospheric haze in the morning twilight which has helped get a little definition to the comet. On the morning of 2026 March 3 had the added benefit of a partial Lunar Eclipse still in progress to almost take the Moon brightness out of the images. The comet was at an average altitude of 5.4 degrees for these images which showed a comet coma 2 arc minutes wide and a calculated magnitude of 10.7 with the center of the comet now well defined. The comet should now be getting visible to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere as it continues to brighten as it moves towards perihelion in its orbit April 19 when it will be 103 million miles from the Sun.