Magnificent 168P/Hergenrother
This is a beautiful image of 168P, whose nucleus is known
to have@been fragmented on October 26.4 (UT).
These photographs were taken at 1 am on October 19 before
the fragmentation occurred. The exposure for the upper photo is 1.5 minutes
and the bottom one 2 minutes.
This periodic comet has appeared twice in the past, but at
this apparition it has attracted the attention of observers by unusual
brightening.
The bright star at lower right of the comet is at GSC magnitude
9.13 and the cometfs total magnitude is slightly brighter than this. It
was visually at the 8th magnitude in the binoculars. It seems to have become
somewhat fainter since. Its total magnitude was estimated to be 9.9 with
an 25cm reflector on October 20.59 (UT) by Mr. Hirohisa Sato, director
of the Comet Section of OAA.
168P/Hergenrother
90-second exposure, October 19, 2012 (JST)
70cm f/7 reflector with Nikon D700 (ISO1600)
Copyright (C) 2012 Geisei Observatory
168P/Hergenrother
120-second exposure, October 19, 2012 (JST)
70cm f/7 reflector with Nikon D700 (ISO 1600)
Copyright (C) 2012 Geisei Observatory