Flight of comet Hergenrother

Object Name: 168P/Hergenrother
Object Type: Comet
Location: Lochem, The Netherlands
Date: October 7, 2012
Media: Graphyte pencil on white paper, inverted with Photoshop, animated GIF made using www.makeagif.com

Yesterday I observed the suddenly brightened comet 168P/Hergenrother. It now travels through the big Pegasus square and its magnitude is about m10.0 – easily visible in most backyard telescopes. I found the comet very quickly and at 50x my 280mm Dobson showed a littje fuzzy ball with a very faint tail. Higher magnification (150x) showed a bright, almost pinpoint nucleus and a wide tail stretching to the southeast. The best comet in years for me! The movement of the comet was so fast I could sketch it twice in the same starfield within one hour. At home I scanned the image and made an animated GIF to show the comet’s movement.
Unfortunately I can’t send animated GIFs via mail. To view the animation click: http://www.roelblog.nl/2012/10/komeet-in-uitbarsting-168phergenrother/

Kind regards and clear skies,
Roel Weijenberg
www.roelblog.nl