Here's one shot, showing its coma (the extended fuzz around the nucleus) and tail:
Lulin is just passing by the Earth (about 0.4 AU, or 40 million miles) and moving fast through the sky. You can really see this in the next shot, where I have changed the intensity stretch so you can see the nucleus. See how it's a fuzzy blur? That's because the comet moved that far in the 10 minute exposure.
These images are about the size of three full moons, by the way. And the comet looks orange because of the colormap I'm using, not because it's actually orange. Its actual color is kind of greenish. But I didnt take a color image....
Sadly, as pretty as it looks here, it's pretty faint -- just barely visible to the naked eye if you live under a very dark sky (and most of us don't). But if you are interested, more information about Comet Lulin can be found at
http://www.skyandtelescope.
4 comments:
awesome -- we can colorize it so we can see it in green, thanks
Thanks. We used to live under a dark sky, and saw so many star guests. I hope you have better weather while you're there.
~p
I like your rendition...let Ted Turner colorize it if he feels the need. I have a fairly dark sky...but it's cold, too. Not sure if I'll be able to see it.
Bad ass.
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