Astroblog: iTelescope ALERT! comet C/2018 W2 (Africano) near Neptune (4 Oct UT)

Thursday, October 03, 2019

iTelescope ALERT! comet C/2018 W2 (Africano) near Neptune (4 Oct UT)


C/2018 W2 (Africano) seen at Astronomical Twilight 0n the evening of 3 October (local time) from Mayhill, New Mexico. The comet is around 1 degree from Neptune. The large rectangle is the field of view of T14/T20 and the small that of T5Click to embiggen.	C/2018 W2 (Africano) seen at Astronomical Twilight on the evening from 3 October (local time)from from Siding Springs, Australia. The comet is close to Neptune on the 4th. The large rectangle is the field of view of T12. Click to embiggen.

C/2018 W2 (Africano) as seen from Adelaide on 4 October at 19:47 ACDST (90 minutes after sunset) similar views will be seen elsewhere at 90 minutes after sunset. Click to embiggen.

C/2018 W2 (Africano) has a close approach to the planet Neptune on the 4th of October UT. Both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere have good views at Astronomical twilight. In the Southern Hemisphere the pair get higher as the evening goes on, but the comet moves further away from Neptune.

The pair are closest at 4:25 UT on the 4th (UT). They are close to phi Aquarii, which makes a handy guide to find them. (H/T Dave Friend via comet images)

The MPC one line ephemeris is:

    CK18W020  2019 09 05.7286  1.454687  1.000777  157.9721  181.8498  116.6157  20190825   9.5  4.0      C/2018 W2 (Africano)

Ephemeris of comet C/2018 W2 Africano from SSO on 4 October
Time     Geo R.A.       Geo Dec     Altitude 
19:47:00 23h 07m 37.9s -06° 10' 03" +42° 24' 55" 
20:47:00 23h 07m 22.9s -06° 16' 32" +52° 35' 05" 
21:47:00 23h 07m 07.9s -06° 23' 01" +59° 42' 28" 
22:47:00 23h 06m 52.9s -06° 29' 28" +61° 20' 04" 
23:47:00 23h 06m 37.9s -06° 35' 55" +56° 38' 48" 
00:47:00 23h 06m 23.0s -06° 42' 21" +47° 44' 12" 
01:47:00 23h 06m 08.1s -06° 48' 45" +36° 45' 30" 
02:47:00 23h 05m 53.2s -06° 55' 09" +24° 51' 30" 
03:47:00 23h 05m 38.4s -07° 01' 32" +12° 37' 31" 
04:47:00 23h 05m 23.6s -07° 07' 55" +00° 43' 12"

Ephemeris of comet C/2018 W2 Africano from Mayhill on 3 October (4 Oct UT)

Time      Geo R.A.      Geo Dec     Altitude 
19:11:00 23h 09m 40.9s -05° 16' 58" +30° 51' 50" 
20:11:00 23h 09m 25.6s -05° 23' 34" +40° 47' 52" 
21:11:00 23h 09m 10.3s -05° 30' 09" +48° 10' 21" 
22:11:00 23h 08m 55.1s -05° 36' 44" +51° 25' 54" 
23:11:00 23h 08m 39.9s -05° 43' 18" +49° 32' 45" 
00:11:00 23h 08m 24.7s -05° 49' 51" +43° 08' 12" 
01:11:00 23h 08m 09.6s -05° 56' 23" +33° 45' 13" 
02:11:00 23h 07m 54.5s -06° 02' 54" +22° 40' 19" 
03:11:00 23h 07m 39.4s -06° 09' 24" +10° 40' 57" 
04:11:00 23h 07m 24.4s -06° 15' 53" -01° 55' 44"

Labels: comet, Conjunction, iTelescope, Neptune, telescope