Comet 46P/Wirtanen
Comet 46P/Wirtanen was discovered photographically on January 17, 1948, by the American astronomer Carl A. Wirtanen. The plate was exposed on January 15 during a stellar proper motion survey for the Lick Observatory. Due to a limited number of initial observations, it took more than a year to recognize this object as a short-period comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years. It belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, all of which have aphelia between 5 and 6 AU. Its diameter is estimated at 1.2 kilometres.
[description from wikipedia]
Details
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Author:
Takahashi FSQ-106EDX III
ASA DDM85
Apogee U16M
Astrodon Gen2
LRGB 60:18:18:18 min.
ROSA Remote Observatories Southern Alps
© Martin Rusterholz, Astrophotographer