New Comet C/2017 K5 Panstarrs

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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Denver Colorado

Date/Time of photo:

19 June 2017, 0725UT

Equipment:

11" SCT f/6.4 and STF-8300M CCD Camera

Description:

This comet is about magnitude 21. It was discovered May 27 and should reach magnitude 19-20 from 2019 to 2021. After a few attempts to image this very faint comet with an 11" SCT all the right conditions finally emerged. These images were taken at 6150 feet, a moonless sky, a starless patch of sky around the comet (stars < mag 21), a slow moving comet, no wind, no hazy skies, no Chem trails, the comet was directly overhead, no neighbors lights on, no deer or other critters touched the scope, the mount tracked perfectly and only one of the five 15 minute images could not be used. That is all it takes to image a 21st magnitude comet with an 11" SCT and an STF-8300M CCD Camera. In other words, for my setup it is almost impossible and the image will never make it into Astronomy or Sky & Telescope. The comet is the fuzzy dot in the center of the circle.