C/2019 Q4 Borisov, the first interstellar comet ever discovered: a image – 17 Sept. 2019

After our first observation of the interstellar comet C/2019 Q4 Borisov, we could image it again, despite a very bright Moon, the imminent sunrise and the low altitude of the target above the horizon. Here it is our new image .

Interstellar comet C/2019 Q4 Borisov: 17 Sept. 2019

Few days after our first observation of this interstellar interloper, we managed to do some follow-up imaging of comet C/2019 Q4 Borisov.

The image above comes from a the average of five, 300-seconds exposure, remotely taken with “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at Virtual Telescope. The telescope tracked the apparent motion (1.3″/minute) of comet C/2019 Q4, this is why stars show as long trails, while the object looks like a sharp dot of light in the center of the image. At the observing time, the target was less than 30 degrees above the horizon, with sunrise approaching and an extremely bright Moon high in the sky.

We performed astrometry on the images, sending the resulting data to the Minor Planet Center.

Looking at the processed frames, a little coma is visible, clearly elongated in the NW direction. This is better visible in the inverted palette insert on the bottom right.

Of course, we will continue monitoring comet C/2019 Q4 in the next weeks.

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