I had a good observing session again using the SON@OSC observatory. Again I have been using the beautiful 4" Pentax F4 refractor along with the SBIG ST8 camera.
How many of us make a "discovery" only to find that it has been known about for some time? There is though the satisfaction of knowing that you have spotted something out of the ordinary. :)
I have taken a number of images of 2P Encke that have shown it unusual tail, but one of this morning's images really brought it out. I posted it on the closed user group on Facebook "Comet Watch" this morning and it attracted quite a lot of positive comments and likes. Some of the comments also helped me to understand what is going on.
Before that, here is the image that I "played" around with to bring out the detail.
A Comet Caught by Its Trail March 15, 2007 by Mike Holloway
How many of us make a "discovery" only to find that it has been known about for some time? There is though the satisfaction of knowing that you have spotted something out of the ordinary. :)
I have taken a number of images of 2P Encke that have shown it unusual tail, but one of this morning's images really brought it out. I posted it on the closed user group on Facebook "Comet Watch" this morning and it attracted quite a lot of positive comments and likes. Some of the comments also helped me to understand what is going on.
Before that, here is the image that I "played" around with to bring out the detail.
and a cutout section to show more
As you can see, especially in the second image the "tail" has quite a few kinks in it. My understanding - and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong - is that what we are looking at is the comet dust trail (not the tail) - the very same that causes the Taurids meteor showers.
Why there are kinks is another matter. They have been known about for over a 100 years. This is a report from the MNRAS 1904.
It was to be more than ninety years after this visual viewing that trails were first imaged by large professional observatories and it was not until 2007 that amateur astronomers first imaged one. There is a nice article in Sky & Telescope about it
Well worth a read, but to get back to the kinks, Were they caused by comet outbursts, solar winds, coronal mass ejections or even close encounters with asteroids? I do not know. I will continue to image the trail and to examine again some of my other images of 2P Encke.
This morning I also imaged C/2012 S1 ISON, C/2012 X1 Linear and C/2013 R1 Lovejoy. These will be published shortly.
Comet 2P Encke is an interesting comet for a number of other reasons.
It was the 2nd Periodic Comet to be discovered (Halley is 1P/Halley)
It has a very short orbital time - just over 3 years - which means that there is a good probability that I will be able observe it a few more times at least :)
