Comet Lulin Time-Lapse
by Scott Loucks
Photographer Comments:
This time-lapse series of five images shows the apparent motion of Comet Lulin over 50 minutes. Its apparent motion on this date (near opposition) was an amazing 9.9 arc--seconds per minute (about 4º/day). Earth and the comet were moving in opposite directions around the Sun. Distance to the comet on this date was 0.470 AU. The comet's magnitude was about 6.4, and a light cloud cover made tracking and focusing difficult. Still, this image sequence is notable for showing the comet's rapid motion. Also of note, this was DFAC's first attempt at remote imaging: the images were being streamed via wireless connection to member Ron Walker's laptop during a Cub Scout Astronomy Night at Heimhenge in New River.
Optics: 11" SCT with
ST-402ME CCD, focal reducer providing spatial sampling at 1.9
arc-seconds/pixel, one minute exposure for each image.
Comet images captured at Lamp Observatory, New River, AZ on March
2nd, 2009