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Old 23-01-2012, 10:17 PM
Ian Cooper
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Ian Cooper is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Palmerston North, New Zealand
Posts: 126
Good to see that Lester is still dragging it in there.

Where I was over the weekend conditions weren't good enough to make any solid observations, but it cleared nicely here after astro twilight was over. I dragged out my reclining meteor observing extendable chair to lay back and Hunt for Lovejoy up near the zenith with the bino's.

Transparency was 9/10 so thought I might confirm what I thought I saw briefly last night before clouds interupted things. I am happy to say that I could still detect the first 3 degrees or so. Once I found it I went back inside and made up a chart from Megastar 5, than came out and plotted what I could see.

All I can say is that it wasn't easy. Sweeping quickly across the comet at right angles with the bino's confirmed my suspicions, but there were numerous small star groupings in line with the tail that made me think the comet was longer. In the end I dismissed those groups and came up with what is on the drawing attached. It will be interesting to see how it fits with any shots taken tonight.

What a change. A month ago I was observing Lovejoy within 10 degrees of the horizon, now it is within 10 degrees of the zenith!

Cheers

Coops
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