46P/Wirtanen is a small Jupiter-family comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years.
46P/Wirtanen is a small Jupiter-family comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years. It was the original target for close investigation by the Rosetta spacecraft, planned by the European Space Agency, but an inability to meet the launch window caused Rosetta to be sent to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko instead. In December 2019, astronomers reported capturing an outburst of the comet in substantial detail by the TESS observatory. It was last observed in 2023 and will next come to perihelion in 2029.
[Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/46P%2FWirtanen]
Comet 46P/Wirtanen.
This short-period comet (5.4 years) was was discovered photographically on January 17, 1948 (Wikipedia).
Exposure 23@ 15 sec
ISO 6400
Camera Nikon D800 [7360 x 4912]
Optics 80 mm f/4.5 using a Nikkor 80-400 mm on a Nikon D800
Location St. Croix Observatory, Nova Scotia.
Date 2018-12-13
Processing Processed in PixInsight and Lightroom.
This short-period comet (5.4 years) was was discovered photographically on January 17, 1948 (Wikipedia).
Exposure 23@ 15 sec
ISO 6400
Camera Nikon D800 [7360 x 4912]
Optics 80 mm f/4.5 using a Nikkor 80-400 mm on a Nikon D800
Location St. Croix Observatory, Nova Scotia.
Date 2018-12-13
Processing Processed in PixInsight and Lightroom.
