SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Mike Olason
Location of Photo:
Tucson, Arizona
Date/Time of photo:
2026 April 18, 1132UT
Equipment:
38mm FL Lens and ASI178MC camera
Description:
On the morning of April 18 Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) was magnitude 4.8 with a coma 10' wide and a tail longer than 10 degrees full of knots blowing in the Solar wind. The white lines outline the twisting tail of the comet in these 7 x 10 degree field of view images. The picture shows the WFOV image and its negative with the twisting tail in the Solar wind, the tail extends beyond the 10 degrees shown in these images. The Solar wind is twisting the knotted tail left and then right as it causes the tail and its knots to disperse as they move away from the comet coma. The morning twilight and light pollution made it impossible to produce a decent looking wide field of view image with my limited software.
