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Ron Haggett
Yuma, AZ
02/06/2024
04:00 am

Equipment Details:

Telescope - William Optics Zenithstar 81mm.
Guidescope - William Optics Uniguide 32mm.
Guide camera - ZWO ASI 120mm-Mini.
Camera - ZWO ASI183MC-Pro.
Mount - iOptron CEM26.

Post-processing Details:

Pre-processing using Siril 1.2.1.
Post-processing using Affinity Photo 2.3.1

Image Details:

Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan currently lies in the constellation Virgo, spending all its time this month (February) near the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Seen here, it is near two barred, lenticular galaxies (north is left). NGC 4608 (lower left) and NGC 4596 (upper left), each about 55 to 56 million LY away. Other, fainter galaxies can be seen seen to the north as well.

Also known as Tsuchinshan 1, it is a periodic comet discovered on 1 January 1965 at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanking, China. It was recently at perihelion on 25 December 2023 with an apparent magnitude of 8 and 0.53 AU from Earth; it is currently at about magnitude 9.