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Ron Haggett
Yuma, AZ
10/12/2023
04:00 am

Equipment Details:

Scope - William Optics Zenithstar 81
Camera - ASI 183MC-Pro

Post-processing Details:

One 5-minute exposure.
Adjustments in Affinity Photo 2.

Image Details:

Periodic comet 103P/Hartley is reportedly now at perihelion with the sun at 0.41 AU and at an approximate magnitude of 7.
Seen here, it is between NGC 2392, also known as the Eskimo Nebula (upper left), and the spectroscopic binary star 63 Geminorum (bottom right) in the constellation Gemini.
The comet's orbital period is about 6.5 years and its diameter is around 1.5 kilometers.
Traveling at about 18.3 km/s in relation to Earth, and this being a one-shot sub at 5 minutes, it moved about 5490 km during the exposure!