55P/Tempel-Tuttle image of the day

February 19, 1998.


Image comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle

Credit & Copyright: Tony Farnham (Email: farnham [at] lowell.edu) at Lowell Observatory.

False color image of Tempel-Tuttle obtained with the R filter, when the comet was 0.98 AU from the sun and 1.22 AU from the Earth. A faint tail can be seen extending to the upper left (the anti-solar direction), even in unprocessed images. The tail is also visible in images taken with the V filter, although it is not as well defined.

This image was obtained as part of a research effort at Lowell observatory. The image shown here (displayed in false color) was obtained at the 42" Hall telescope at Lowell Observatory, using a 2048x2048 CCD (smaller sections of the overall frame are shown for clarity). A wideband R filter was used to isolate reflected light from any dust particles in the coma.







Last updated: February 25, 1998
P. Jenniskens