Comet 8P/Tuttle
By Michael Rosolina
Comet 8P/Tuttle is a periodic comet that comes by our little corner of the solar
system every 13.6 years. It was first discovered by Pierre Mechain 1790 but then
lost, not to be found again until Horace Tuttle spotted it in 1858.
This apparition is a particularly favorable one with Tuttle passing close to the
Earth–closest approach was 23.5 million miles/37.8 million km on January 1st. By
the end of December, Tuttle had brightened to about magnitude 6, putting it at the
threshold of vision for sharp-eyed observers with dark skies.
Because of its nearness to Earth, Tuttle lives up to the speedy reputation that the
word comet invokes. At the time of this sketch, it was covering about 4 degrees of
arc every day as it moved rapidly south through the constellation Pisces into Cetus.
I have included Tuttle’s position at the start of my observation to give some
sense of the distance it traveled in less than an hour.
The sketch was done at the eyepiece on Strathmore 400 series medium weight recycled
sketch paper. I used an HB pencil and a loaded stump and blended with my fingers.
After scanning I inverted the sketch digitally.
Michael,
Excellent sketch and report. I am getting my look at this comet through your fine drawing. It really is moving quickly against the background stars.
Frank