3200 Phaethon

Comet: 3200 Phaethon
Date and Time: 2 September 2006
2302 UTC
Observing Location: Lawrenceville GA


Instrument: First photo used a 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope with 3910 focal length.




The second image used a 34 mm reflector with 135 mm focal length. Skies were excellent. It shows the comet with a highlighted circle.


I felt the tail was clearer in the lower powered telescope. The nucleus is bright. Tail is hazy, but it is clearly a tail that is on one side of the comet rather than a hazy surrounding a star-like object.