Finally spotted it just after I got home at 11pm tonight. I live in WNW Canberra looking SE over the population epicentre of Canberra(Woden Valley).
Thought I could see a tiny smudge in 7x35mm binos but not sure. Then I took out my Williams Optics 70mm f6.3 ED refractor at 14x Andrews 30mm 82 deg eyepiece and it was pretty easy. Easier with averted vision but definitely visible with direct vision.
Finally spotted it just after I got home at 11pm tonight. I live in WNW Canberra looking SE over the population epicentre of Canberra(Woden Valley).
Thought I could see a tiny smudge in 7x35mm binos but not sure. Then I took out my Williams Optics 70mm f6.3 ED refractor at 14x Andrews 30mm 82 deg eyepiece and it was pretty easy. Easier with averted vision but definitely visible with direct vision.
Joe Cali
Great job Joe, always a very nice feeling to spot a comet.
And here's the photo finally !!!!
SONY A77 single jpeg pic., 30 secs @ ISO 1000 through 80mm f5 Achro with CLS filter (hence the blue\green tinge). Cropped but no other processing.
Comet Lemmon now has a noticeable tail on it now in long exposure photographs.
These images I shot last night were only 3 minute subs.
Sorry about the poor quality, I didn't put much effort into them as the moon was bright.
I couldn't see any signs of a tail last week when I imaged Lemmon, so I don't think it's been there for all that long.
Can't wait till the moons out of the sky so I can image the comet and it's tail properly.
Can't see any tail in my pic but there is a discernible bowshock arc if you look carefully and some stretching of the coma I think behind it. I took a break last night, 4 nights of imaging was straining the family bonds a wee bit and I was tired. Plus there was about 250 emails to sort out !!
But ..
I got out with the 10 x 50 binocs about 10:30 and was going to ask if I spotted Lemmon close to a particular asterism ... but your pix above just confirmed that I nabbed it in the binos. Very dim. It is moving quickly isn't it ?
It is much brighter than last week, must be getting closer to naked eye visabilty (once the moon is out of the way) I found it quite easily with 12 x 60 binoculars last night.
Rick
Nice image, good to see that it can now be imaged with a 200mm lens. Tried last night with a 50mm lens but its still too small to see. Cloudy here again tonight
Just a question.. How can i find this? I have been outside all night and i can't find it? Am i missing something?
These screen grabs from Starry Night for tonight should help. The first two are for 2030hrs EST (1030 UT), the second group are for 2130hrs EST (1130 UT) and the last is for 2230hrs EST (1230 UT). The Moon will rise just after 2130hrs EST. I hope you have clear skies.
Last edited by Shark Bait; 01-02-2013 at 09:47 AM.
Tony
What are you using to look for it? A scope, binos, do you have charts etc.
If you have charts you can look up the current RA and Dec on Heavens above website, then star hop to the comet. It was very obvious in my 15x70s last night just west of Alpha Apodis
Malcolm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrtonytj
Just a question.. How can i find this? I have been outside all night and i can't find it? Am i missing something?
I got in last week in my 10x60 binos when it was just existing the Southern Cross. It looked like a distant globular cluster- I didn't expect it to be as large as it was!
A clear sky then was needed tho- I had good clear views to the south, but there were clouds in the east and when they started travelling south east, it gave poor transparency to the south & I couldn't get it back. So I still haven't been able to get my scope on it. I hear it's mag. 6 at the moment and brightening. Tonight looks promising.
It is a relief to have some clear skies at night Suzy.
I have just had a look through my 7x50 bino's and I did manage to track it down but it took some finding. There is some cloud low on the horizon which makes it a bit harder to find. Last time I looked at it through bino's was near New Moon and it was an easy object to find. Tonight it is a lot tougher to find, even though the Moon does not rise for another 30 minutes.
Edit: Glad I spent some time under semi-clear skies. Full cloud cover by 10pm.
Last edited by Shark Bait; 01-02-2013 at 11:35 PM.
Reason: Detail added
Managed to get a few pics of Comet Lemmon in between cloud breaks.
Its definetly brightening with a hint on my shot of a tail developing
Used 60D with 50mm f2 lens 3200 iso 10 secs--Total of 5 mins exposure.
Here's a shot I got the other night when the moon was up. Not a great image, but it does show the true extent of the tail.
Hope to get some more clear nights with the moon out of the evening sky now
Image details: 19x3min subs, taken with a modified canon 1000D through a william optics megrez 90 refractor
Image has been cropped from the original size.
Deep sky stacker and Photoshop CS5 were used for processing.
Here's a shot I got the other night when the moon was up. Not a great image, but it does show the true extent of the tail.
Hope to get some more clear nights with the moon out of the evening sky now
Image details: 19x3min subs, taken with a modified canon 1000D through a william optics megrez 90 refractor
Image has been cropped from the original size.
Deep sky stacker and Photoshop CS5 were used for processing.
If I'd moved the comets head to the bottom right of my cameras field of view I would of caught more of the tail. I didn't actually realise how long the tail was going to be, so that's why I cropped the image
Oh well, I'll remember next time
Hopefully I can get some better shots, if the weather lets me
