C/2001 A2 LINEAR

C/2001 A2 Animation

C/2001 A2 False Color

Subject:	Comet C/2001 A2 LINEAR, 21 July 2001, 03:40:16 to 03:56:27 UT.
Telescope:	Takahashi FSQ-106n
Mount:	Losmandy G-11
Imager:	SBIG ST-7 non-E non-ABG
Image Details:	The still frame image above is the addition of ten 1-minute integrations at -10C taken between 03:40:16 and 03:56:27 UT on 21 July 2001. The comet moved considerably during that time, thus the star trailing. The images were aligned and stacked in MaxImDL. The animation is of those same ten images stacked and converted into an animated GIF. This gives a feel for the speed with which a comet can cruise across the sky. The motion is not perceptable to the eye, but through a telescope it is visible. The images in the animation are raw with the exception of dark frame subtraction and a series of linear stretches to set the background to the same brightness. The variations in tail brightness are just a result of processing and are not indicative of actual brightness changes in the comet at that time. The false color image was created in MaxImDL and was done to illustrate the tail shape and extent. My image is not a wide enough scale to show the length of the entire tail.

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