I took advantage of a clear moonless window at Chiefland between 4:30AM and 6AM to image remotely from Boca Raton using the RCOS scope. Turns out that Comet P/2016 BA14 is the closest comet to approach Earth in 246 years and the 3rd closest in recorded history! And apparently, it is not a fragment of brighter but smaller accompanying near-Earth approach Comet 252P/LINEAR which fluoresced to prominence recently. Comet P/2016 BA14 has been measured by radar (see link below) and is 3000 miles in diameter but dark as asphalt. So this big but low albedo comet is magnitude 18 in the constellation Hercules and getting dimmer as it recedes. Above is an image consisting of two 20-minute 1×1 luminance star-tracked exposures (with a 2 minute gap). An airplane passes over the field during the second exposure as can be seen in the attached GIF animation (above). Distant galaxy PGC2183531 in the field is magnitude 17.2 for brightness comparisons. A solar system model made using The Sky program shows the positions of the exiting comets and their inclined orbits relative to the plane of the ecliptic. Perhaps one culprit perturber caused both of these comets to become very near-Earth objects.
http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=124844&PHPSESSID=khkd2hm3t9oq5ovq2tigluhi94 — Spaceweather.com
http://earthsky.org/space/twin-comets-approach-closely-in-march#twins — see the cool radar movie!!!