Comet Linear (C/2012 K5)

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

9th January 2013, 0043 hrs EST, Mt Mee Queensland

The only reason that I have posted this extremely grainy image is that it may be of some interest to those who are keeping an eye on this comet. My intentions were to observe visually. I ended up taking some images in the hope that I could extract some data and estimate the magnitude of the comet. To be honest, I am surprised that I got the comet in the frame at all.

Afocal Photography, 12" SW GoTo Dob, Panasonic DMC-FT1, 25mm EP, 60 Second Exposure.

Starry Night V6.3 Tab Data:
Universal Time: 8/01/2013 14:43:00
Local Time: 9/01/2013 12:43:00 AM
Latitude: 27° 03' 55.0" S
Longitude: 152° 46' 51.8" E
Constellation name: Taurus, The Bull, Tauri
Azimuth: 307.25
Altitude: 25.60
Elongation: 146° East
Distance from observer: 0.380413207 au
Distance from Sun: 1.313831128 au
Apparent magnitude: 11.08 (I don't know if this is updated by Starry Night but it appears to agree with the image)
Orbit size: 791.27 au
Angular size: 0.072 arcseconds
Length of year: 22258.62 years

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

Well done at capturing the comet!

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

Thanks Andrew. Your photos are partly responsible for inspiring me to make the trip to dark skies in order to hunt down this comet.

I found the comet hunting expierence quite satisfying. I managed to bag three before the morning twilight.