Monday 26 January 2015

15P/Finlay is now a binocular object due to a series outbursts.


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Hot bright news (26 January 2015) Chart date 26 January 2015, 20:30
from Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Source: Comet Chasing in January; Chart: Skytools 3

15P/Finlay is now a binocular object! It brightened by several magnitudes on January 16, on top of a similar episode in mid-December, apparently due to a series outbursts.

Coma Diameter: 3.9'
Earth Distance: 1.4 AU
Sun Distance: 1.1 AU
Elongation:  49°
Tail Position Angle:  65°
Tail Forshortening: 30%
Actual Coma Diameter: 240000 km
DC:  1
Total motion: 3.06 "/min
   RA:  2.71 "/min
   Dec: 1.44 "/min