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C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) - First Interstellar Comet!
#1
The Minor Planet Center just released an orbit for C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) and I have added it to the current comets target list.

This comet was only recognized yesterday as being of interstellar origin (a first). It is currently brighter than 19th mag.
Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
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#2
I obtained three 10-minutes exposures this morning with iTelescope T11 (0.50-m f/6.8 reflector + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer) at New Mexico Skies.

The first image is a stack of all three. Second image is an animation.


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Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
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#3
Hi Greg,

Very impressive captures. The comet sure looks much fainter than Mag 15 as predicted. It looks like a 5 min exposure would have likely missed it. What kind of system was Mr. Borisov using that he found it almost 2 weeks ago? It least it was a new moon then, but still wow!

Thanks for the article at Skyhound.com, very interesting.

Phil S.
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#4
Hello Phil,

I updated the ST4 Imaging comet data today to better reflect the magnitude, which I estimated from my images to be 18.5 or (possibly fainter).

Borisov built his own, quite unique, 25-inch wide field telescope to do surveys with.

https://s22380.pcdn.co/wp-content/upload...cope_S.jpg
Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
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#5
Hi Greg,

Borisov's camera looks to be optically 'fast'. Do you know what optical design it uses? It doesn't have the corrector plate of a Schmidt-type system. It's really impressive that he found this comet at ~mag=19.

Phil S.
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#6
All I know about Borisov and his telescope is what little I could gleam from a video in Russian with an often hilarious auto-generated English translation!
Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
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