C/2011 C1 (McNaught) - Update

C/2011 C1 (McNaught) is at present the brightest comet in the sky (~m1=10) and it will reach the perihelion on April 18, 2011 at about 0.9 AU. This comet was discovered by R. H. McNaught through the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring, on images obtained on 2011, Feb. 10.7.

For more information about the discovery of this comet:

http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-comet-c2011-c1-mcnaught.html


We have observed this comet again on April 03, 2011 remotely from the GRAS Observatory (near Mayhill, NM) through a 0.51-m, f/6.9 reflector + CCD. Below you can see the resulting image, stacking of 15 unfiltered exposures, 20 seconds each. Click on the image for a bigger version.




While this is an animation composed of 15 frames x 20 seconds, showing the movement of the comet in the sky. Click on the thumbnail below for a bigger version:

by Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero