Hello,
I'm currently unable to get a clear view of the eastern horizon where I live in Melbourne in order to view Ison. I won't have a chance to get a clear view of the east until next week when I travel to Wollongong. Will Ison still be visible in the early morning on Thursday 28th November? Or will I have missed it by then?
That's like 1 day before perihelion. IF the comet survives and IF the comet flares up nicely then you MAY see a long streaming tail in the morning sky.
Bets are on at the moment that it won't survive. Actually, if it flares and doesn't survive you still MAY see a tail in it's death throws. Or not. No one really knows. This comet is unpredictable!
Last edited by cometcatcher; 18-11-2013 at 03:39 PM.
Sydney is not just clouded out (as always when there is something worth seeing) but also having the wettest November in 7 years. You'll need a brolly and galoshes - not cameras and binoculars.
The chances of seeing ISON from Sydney or the 'Gong before perihelion are pretty much nil.
My bet is that it will be a non-event. The photos elsewhere on IIS from Brisbane and Melbourne show that cameras do not show the tail in single-shot exposures - they were stacking 16 or 25 frames - which implies the tail is barely visible in binoculars - if at all. It also implies it won't be much post-perihelion, either.
In other words, it has been over-hyped, once again.
Hi. I managed to spot the comet early Monday morning (18th Nov) from here in SE Melbourne (before the morning fog/cloud rolled in). Using Spica as a nice ref point - it took the C5 to spot directly, no luck in the 72mm WO Megrez, and certainly nothing in the 8x42 ED binos. The 125mm SCT held it (albeit with averted vision) right up until 5:15am - the Sun then being 8deg below the horizon, and ISON roughly 10deg above. I don't think I'd give it another go unless it really flares! Here's hoping for a daylight display, but I'm not holding my breath Clear skies!
Saw ISON this morning at around 3:30am from near Brisbane in 15x50 image stabilized binoculars.
Was not too difficult - but not really easy either. The coma appeared quite compact (particularly when compared to comet Lovejoy which was somewhat easier and at a similar altitude) making it difficult to spot it's non-stellar appearance down in the murk near the horizon.
I thought I could glimpse a thin tail in the binoculars using averted vision but I couldn't be certain and the sky was brightening fast.
I was unable to see it at all naked eye but there was considerable light pollution on the Eastern horizon.
Hope some others have been able to pick this one up in binoculars.
Lol, I was going to write up why not but had to go out. S1 ISON will probably peak at around magnitude 1 or so. The Sun is magnitude -26 which makes the comet too faint for a solar scope.
No one really knows. This comet is unpredictable!
