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Update on Comet 168P/Hergenrother
October 23, 2012
Our team performed follow-up observations of comet 168P/Hergenrother on 2012, Oct. 22.4, remotely through the 2m, f/10 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD of Faulkes Telescope North (Haleakala) under good seeing conditions, and a scale of 0.3arcsec/px. Comet 168P has recently undergone an outburst with its magnitude increasing from ~14-15 to magnituide ~9.5.
Recent observations posted on comet-images ml were showing a "cloud" of material trailing the nucleus in the anti-solar direction. In our image (stacking of 9 x 30-second exposures) is visible an unresolved and diffuse trail about 6" long and 3" wide in PA145.
Below you can see a graph showing recent magnitude estimates of comet 168P. Click on the image for a bigger version.
by Giovanni Sostero, Nick Howes, Alison Tripp & Ernesto Guido
