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Community photo entitled Two comets in one view by Steven Bellavia on 08/20/2026 at Smithfield, VA

Two comets in one view

On 08/20/2026 04:30 am by Steven Bellavia | Website | Smithfield, VA

I waited a little too long to capture comet 88P/Howell, so it has faded considerably since it reached perihelion in March.
However, waiting allowed it, and comet 220P McNaught, to pair up in the same view.
And 220P has undergone some recent, rare outbursts, making this a very nice comet with a long tail (which seems unusual to me as a Jupiter family comet).
I have captured 220P several times over the last few months, but 88P is new to me, making it the 77th comet I have captured so far.

Telescope/Lens: SvBony 535, 37.5mm aperture, 105mm focal length, f/2.8
Camera: ZWO ASI 183MC Pro, cooled to -15C
This yields an image with a 7.2 degree x 4.8 degree field of view. The final image is rotated and cropped to 3200 x 4800 pixels at 4.0 degrees (horizontal) x 6.2 degrees (vertical)
Filter: Touptek UV-IR cut filter
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6R-Pro equatorial mount
Guidescope: modified Touptek GS-150
Guide camera: ZWO ASI 224MC

Integration: 33 x 180sec, Gain 100, Offset 12
processed in PixInsight and Canon Digital Photo Professional