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Distance 0.2742 AU (41.0 million km) - magnitude 6.5
Méchain discovered this comet in the evening sky near Omicron Piscium in January 1790. Several very famous observers, including Charles Messier and William Herschel, observed the comet over the next three weeks. 2007/2008 will be a good apparition for this comet and on January 2nd 2008 it will be within 0.25 AU of Earth. The comet should then be an easy binocular object.
The exposure was 15 seconds and the field of view is 15 x 15 arc minutes - note how far the comet moves in just 25 minutes!
In collaboration with the Remote Astronomical Society Observatory
Martin Nicholson - Daventry, United Kingdom.
This page was last updated on December 27th 2007.