C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) |
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![]() Copyright © 2004 by Wally Pacholka (California, USA)
This image was obtained by Wally Pacholka from Joshua Tree National Park on 2004 May 8 UT. It was obtained with a Fuji digital camera mounted on a Kenko mount. A 75mm lens was used at f/2.4 and exposed for 90 seconds at ISO 1600. Over 7° of tail was visible. Discovery Several observatories in the United States and elsewhere search the sky every clear, moonless night to look for asteroids which might eventually pose a threat to Earth; however, with such a systematic search of the sky come other interesting discoveries as well. S. H. Pravdo, E. F. Helin, and K. J. Lawrence (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) announced that the 1.2-m Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory (California, USA) had found a comet on 2001 August 24.40 in the course of the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program. The comet was found on CCD images and the astronomers were able to confirm the discovery on August 26 and 27. The comet was described as a round nebulosity measuring about 8 arc seconds across. The total magnitude as given as 20.0. Confirmations also came from other observatories on August 27 and these indicated a brighter total magnitude. J. Ticha, M. Tichy, and P. Jelinek (Klet Observatory) gave the magnitude as 17.8, while P. J. Shelus (McDonald Observatory, Texas, USA) gave it as 17.3. Historical Highlights
Additional Images ![]() Copyright © 2003 by Terry Lovejoy (Australia)
Closeup of C/2001 Q4 on 2003 August 26.77 UT at 1.8 arc sec per pixel using a Tak E160. Image is 35 minutes exposure, with DDP processing and a slight median filter applied to clean up noise. Estimated magnitude was mag 11.9 (CCD USNO R mag) with west at top and south to right. The tail can be traced 7 arc minutes in PA 310°.
![]() Copyright © 2003 by Gustavo Mazalan & Victor Buso (Observatorio Astronómico del Colegio Cristo Rey, Rosario, Argentina)
Image of C/2001 Q4 on 2003 September 24.22 UT. The image was obtained with a Celestron 11-inch SCT and a PICTOR 416XT CCD camera. Five 25-second exposures were combined for this image. The image measures 24 by 17 arc minutes. North is toward the top, while east is to the left.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Gianluca Masi and Franco Mallia (Las Campanas Observatory, Chile)
This image was obtained on 2004 April 16.99, while using the SoTIE telescope in Las Campanas. A set of images were collected to create a mosaic, covering about 0.7 deg. Each area was imaged using a total integration time of 3 minutes. Then the frames have been shifted taking the comet motion into account, in order to keep the higher detail. The tail of the comet is clearly visible; the object was at about 25 deg above the horizon. On the bottom right, the region close to the false nucleus shows clear dust shells.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Terry Lovejoy (Thornlands, Queensland, Australia)
This image was obtained by T. Lovejoy on 2004 April 24.40 UT. It is a composite of seventeen 90-second exposures obtained with and Canon EOS 300D attached to a Takahashi Epsilon E160. The camera setting was 400 ASA. The field is 2.5° wide.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Giovanni Sostero (Remanzacco Observatory, Italy)
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Günter Kerschhuber (Oberösterreich, Austria)
This image was obtained by G. Kerschhuber on 2004 May 13.91. It is a composite of sixty-five 40-second exposures obtained with a Pentacon 300mm and a Starlight SXV-H9.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Jerry Armstrong (Winston, Georgia, USA) and Fernbank Science Center (Decatur, Georgia, USA)
This image showing detail within the inner coma was obtained by J. Armstrong on 2004 May 12.06. It is a 20-second exposure obtained with a Meade 14-inch LX200GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope and an SBIG ST-1001 CCD camera. North is up. The camera was on-loan from the Fernbank Science Center.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Rolando Ligustri, G. Degano, and L. Furlanetto (Talmassons, Italy)
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Anthony Arrigo (Park City, Utah, USA)
This image of comet NEAT near the Beehive Cluster (M44) was obtained by A. Arrigo on 2004 May 15. It is a composite of eight 30-second exposures obtained with a Sony DSC-F717 digital camera and 1.7x teleconverter. The camera was piggy backed on a 120mm f/5 refractor sitting on a Losmandy G11 mount.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Carlos Vázquez Darias (Tenerife, Canary Islands)
This image was obtained by C. V. Darias on 2004 May 15.94. It is a 2.5-minute exposure using Fuji X-tra 400 film and a 20-cm Celestron Schmidt camera. The image shows the comet as it was moving past the open cluster M44 in Cancer.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Javier Alonso Labrador (Tenerife, Canary Islands)
This image was obtained by J. A. Labrador on 2004 May 15.94. It is a 2-minute exposure using a Canon D60 digital SLR camera set at 400 ASA, with an 85mm f/1.2 lens. The image shows the comet as it was moving past the open cluster M44 in Cancer.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Jim Melka (St. Louis, Missouri, USA)
This image was obtained by J. Melka on 2004 May 16.11. Four 1-minute exposures were obtained using a Canon D60 digital SLR camera set at 400 ASA, with 12-inch f/4.1 Newtonian reflector. These images were subsequently stacked using Registax 2.0 Freeware.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Luca Buzzi, Mauro Auteri, and Andrea Aletti (G. V. Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory, Varese, Italy)
This image was obtained by L. Buzzi, M. Auteri, and A. Aletti on 2004 May 16.89. They were using a 14-inch Celestron Schmidt camera stopped down to 280mm. This 4-minute exposure was obtained with 400 ISO film.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Mikael Moeller, Leif Moeller and Mogens Winther (Val d'Aosta, Italy)
This image was obtained by M. Moeller, L. Moeller and M. Winther on 2004 May 19.95. It is a composite of eleven 60-second exposures obtained with a Canon EOS D10 camera mounted at prime focus on a 1140mm refractor.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Alessandro Cipolat Bares (Val d'Aosta, Italy)
This image was obtained by A. C. Bares on 2004 May 22.88. It is a composite of four 60-second exposures obtained with an FSQ 106 and an SXV-H9 CCD camera.
![]() Copyright © 2004 by Giovanni Sostero (Remanzacco Observatory, Italy)
This image was obtained by G. Sostero on 2004 May 24.0. It is a 300-second exposure obtained with a Canon EOS D300 camera and an Intes 15-cm Maksutov astrograph. The field of view measures 1° by 1.4°. |