SOLAR SYSTEM
  Gavin James
  07808 480621
  gavin@gjmultimedia.co.uk
 
Astronomy Solar System     << previous next >>
 
Comet 46P/Wirtanen - 2018-12-13 - Calculations

I thought it would be interesting to see if I could calculate how quickly comet 46P/Wirtanen appeared to be travelling across our line of sight, using the data shot to create a widefield image. I worked out the resolution of the image in arcseconds per pixel and by measuring pixels between the comet at known times, I was able to do a little bit of mathematics to calculate a speed of 9.6 km/s, which I am happy to report concurs with the published data about the comet.

Telescope:
Camera:
Exposures:

 

Canon 85mm lens @ f2.8
Canon EOS 1Dx
4 x 60s at ISO 800

 

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