The sketch at left records a 109X view of Fragment C in the 18-inch Obsession. The comet is centered and features a stellar core region enveloped within a bright inner coma that teardrops to the southwest over a distance of 1'.5 to 2'. The brightest portion of the tail extends straight back toward the edge of the field and beyond; a distance of 22' and more. A broader, more subtle tails sweeps towards the same southwest field boundary and has a width of about 6' when 16' from the pseudonucleus. a Y-asterism of five stars is grouped 3' to the east. The brightest of these shine at 11th magnitude. Less than an arcminute northeast of the comet, a 13th magnitude GSC star is seen. Another sixteen stars dot the field. Occasionally, I catch a hint of more than one stellaring in the core of the comet. So, I paired an 18-mm Meade SWA eyepiece with a Tele Vue 3X Barlow for a high magnification view.

At 399X in the big Dob, the inner coma and core region come to life. Three point sources are seen within the coma and a fourth lies just outside to the west. At least one of the four is a star. According to VizieR, the point source just west of the coma is 2MASS 15245926+2607251, a 14.2(B) magnitude star at 15h 22m 51.0s, +26d 17m 56s. Presumably, one of the three stellarings in the coma is a pseudonucleus. The other two may be a pseudonuclei around other cometary fragments or, perhaps, averted imagination. Hopefully, the CCD imagers can help sort this one out.

In recently taken CCD images, this comet reveals multiple fragments within its coma. Although I have not yet seen any hint of stellaring with my 18-inch, Fragment B does display an elongated inner coma, which is indicative of the events transpiring beneath the veil of ice and dust. At 109X, the elongated core region covers roughly a 120" by 30" area along a northeast to southwest axis. This comet's tail is shorter and more diffuse than Fragment C's. It runs approximately 18' toward the southwest field boundary and broadens considerably along the way. An interior bright stripe of dust extends behind the core region for a distance of about 5'. Four reasonably bright stars flank the comet. The brighter of pair to the southeast shines at 10.3 magnitude. The pair to the northwest simmer at 10.4 and 11.1 magnitude, respectively. Another 16 stars are scattered throughout the field.

Examining Fragment B at high power (399X) reveals no hint of stellaring within the elongated inner coma. The comet appears slender; almost needle-like. The western half of the tail seems brighter to my eye and extends southwest beyond the field boundary.

This is a most unusual comet, at least when compared with its siblings. While the B and C fragments display classic cometary features--comae, elongated tails and such--Fragment G does not. At 109X, this comet is a delicate ghost of a thing and is best seen with averted vision. Appearing circular at first, continued attention reveals an egg shaped oval roughly 4' by 3' in size. After a few more minutes observation, I'm getting hints of a gauzy tail extending almost due south from the coma. There is no hint of a pseudonucleus nor even significant brightening within the coma. Fragment G does not appear long for this Solar System. My sketch is accented by 33 stars strewn about the field of view.