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Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock, 1983 May 10  This image was obtained on 1983 May 10, about a day and a half before the comet made the third closest appraoch to Earth of any comet in recorded history. Fuji 400 ASA film was used with a Minolta XD-11 and a 50mm f/1.4 lens. The image was only a 15-second exposure and was unguided. The comet is just below center, while a cloud is toward the lower left. The comet was then moving near the bowl of the "Little Dipper", and the bright star just to the lower right is Beta Ursae Minoris. The coma measures about 51 arc minutes across in this image, or nearly two times the apparent width of the full moon. The magnitude was about 3.3.
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