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Jan 28

Feb 4

11

18

25

Mar 3

869

884

ε

5

7

8

PERSEUS

CASSIOPEIA

Double Cluster

2 h 00 m

+62°

2 h 30 m

Path of Comet C/2017 T2 +60°

+58°

Star magnitudes

5

4

6

7

8

9

Jan 1

Feb 1

Mar 1

Apr 1

May 1

869

884

α

β δ

ε

γ

γ

γ

η

ι

τ

CAMELOPARDALIS

CASSIOPEIA

PERSEUS

CEPHEUS

Double

Cluster

7 h 6 h 5 h 4 h 3 h 2 h 1 h^0 h^23

h

+60°

+50°

+70°

Path of Comet C/2017 T2

Star magnitudes

3

2

4

5

6

pComet T2 brightens from magnitude 9.5 at the beginning of the month to magnitude 8.8 by month’s end. In the chart at right, Comet T2’s position is
marked with a tick at 0h UT every seven days. For North America, this time falls in the early evening (or late afternoon) of the previous date.

cumpolar all month from many locales
and ideally placed high in the north-
western sky at nightfall. Moonlight will
compromise the view through February
10th, but the remainder of the month
will be open for business.
As the comet plunges toward a May
4th perihelion, it will continue to
brighten and attract attention through-
out the winter and spring. Depending
on the source, Comet T2 could reach

5th magnitude during the fi rst half of

May, bright enough to discern with the

naked eye from the countryside. Or

it might only manage 8th magnitude,

which would still make it a fi ne target

for binoculars and smaller scopes from

suburban or better skies.

As the comet sails across the far

northern constellations over the

next several months, moving from

Perseus to the Big Dipper’s Bowl by

June, it will pass several prominent

deep-sky objects, including the bright

galaxy pair of M81 and M82 on

May 21–23, and the rich Coma Cluster

of galaxies (Abell 1656) on July 16–19.

Interestingly, Comet T2 drew closest

to Earth last December 28th (when it

was 1.5 astronomical units away) but

stood 2.3 a.u. from the Sun at the time,

or 105 million kilometers more distant

than it will when it’s at perihelion.

Jan 1

6

11

16

21

26

31

Feb 5

10 15

20

Mar 1 (^611)
θ
η
ε
γ
δ
ξ
80
83
λ
CANCER
LEO
Path of Fides
+22°
+20°
+18°
9 h 30 m 9 h 15 m 9 h 00 m 8 h 45 m 8 h 30 m
25
Beehive Cluster M44
Star magnitudes
46789105
skyandtelescope.com • FEBRUARY 2020 49