Yes, as Kevin said, the comet is more around the mag. 10 mark. See here in the comet observers data base: http://cobs.si/recent
Liz nabbed it last weekend through her Celestron 8" from a dark site, this is what she said in her obs in our comet groups on facebook. I hope you don't mind Liz! :
"Next was to wait for A1 to rise a bit higher, and there it was in my EP. Still faint and easier with averted vision, but much clearer in the 12" Dob as a small fuzzy."
If the weather is clear tonight, I hope to go after it- will be through light pollution using my 10" dob. The bright GC may significantly overwhelm the comet so it's a good idea to pop the GC out of the field of view of the eyepiece. I hope I don't have to- that's the beauty of seeing them both together .
Glen, I hope you don't mind, I used your map for my post today on our facebook page. And the bit about the distance of comet and SMC- that was a cool comparison.
Btw Kevin, that's a really gorgeous pic! I look forward to seeing more as it moves closer.
I can't even find the SMC yet. How can I get 47Turcanae and not see the SMC?
When looking through the telescope in that area around 47Tuc, you are in the SMC galaxy. All those little fuzzy knots of stuff are part of the galaxy. From a dark site, both the LMC and SMC galaxies are huge objects in the sky.
This is how I find 47Tuc easily:
Find the bright star beta in Hydrus (it's easy- it forms the base of the triangle).
Then hold out 3 fingers horizontally (close in thumb & pinky) at arms length with one eye closed at Beta. This is about where it should be (it's only 4 degrees away-about the size of that hand measurement- and a bit to the right). It's easily visible in binoculars or thru the scope's finder.
Got it tonight. The comet and NGC 362 fit nicely into the 50' field of my 21mm Ethos. It is surprisingly faint at this stage, mind you it is fairly low still and the LP is worst for me in that direction. Couldn't manage it in my 8" but may try later if still clear.
Great image Kevin. And for those that don't know, it will be ploughing through that globular cluster at between 1:15 and 3:15 tomorrow morning ie a few hours time!
Not sure if it is bright enough to make an interesting image during the transit, but there could be some great approach shots...
Just been out having a look with the 16" dob. A great sight, only 15' from NGC 362, at least a 6' long wedge shaped tail to the east, a bit brighter on the northern edge and a distinct nucleus.
Nice one Paddy!
I tracked it a bit tonight. At about 8-30 it was maybe 20' away from NGC362 but had closed to nearly 10' by 12-30am. Makes a really nice pairing. The tail is just visible with a Lumicon deep sky filter to help damp out the LP to the south of here. I would have picked the tail as pointing north though?
Got it tonight. The comet and NGC 362 fit nicely into the 50' field of my 21mm Ethos. It is surprisingly faint at this stage, mind you it is fairly low still and the LP is worst for me in that direction. Couldn't manage it in my 8" but may try later if still clear.
Malcolm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy
Just been out having a look with the 16" dob. A great sight, only 15' from NGC 362, at least a 6' long wedge shaped tail to the east, a bit brighter on the northern edge and a distinct nucleus.
Fantastic work guys, no surprise that you two were on the job with this one! The comet's quite faint in my scope and I was REALLY pushed for time last night so opted for photography. Yeah, I know it's a cop-out but I have been following the comet visually as well, honest!
I saw it visually with a 10" Newt (albeit very faint and it took me a while with all the LP) but then i put the DSLR on and snapped about 500 images as it transited through NGC362. Aiming to put them together in a timelapse video. It was pretty cool to see it moving as you scroll through the images on the back of the camera
Cheers
You are welcome Suzy. I have just been in hospital for 3 nights, am out now and hope to see the comet tonight.
Ian the comet will go to mag 7.7 then get fainter again.
The comet transits at about 2am tonight, 1.47 degrees or 88 arc minutes to the left of 47 Tuc. You need dark skies to see it at mag 9 or 10.
Thanks for the images and magnitudes Kevin and Alan.
Nice one Paddy!
I tracked it a bit tonight. At about 8-30 it was maybe 20' away from NGC362 but had closed to nearly 10' by 12-30am. Makes a really nice pairing. The tail is just visible with a Lumicon deep sky filter to help damp out the LP to the south of here. I would have picked the tail as pointing north though?
Malcolm
I think we're both right as the tail seems very wide - more like a 90 degree wedge with one side heading NE and the other SE. The brighter edge is the NE one. To me it doesn't look like 2 distinct tails at this stage. This was what I thought I saw last night and was just out looking again and looks the same.
I think we're both right as the tail seems very wide - more like a 90 degree wedge with one side heading NE and the other SE. The brighter edge is the NE one. To me it doesn't look like 2 distinct tails at this stage. This was what I thought I saw last night and was just out looking again and looks the same.
Paddy
Yeah that seems about right from the images. I am about to head out and give it another go.
With Clear skies was about to turn the scope over for a peek went inside grabbed a cuppa as it was getting cold came out full fog out ...
It's been doing that all week here I guess and usually a bit earlier oh well saw it near ngc 362 yesterday. Looking forward to some pics.
Managed to get my first clear sighting of comet Siding Springs tonight using a 140mm refractor. The weather and other commitments had conspired against me up till now.
The comet was a distinct hazy spot with a just visible broad fan like tail. It's motion was clearly visible when returning to view it 90 minutess later.
Seeing was 4 out of 5 and transparency varied between 5 & 6 out of 7. The best viewing was at 114X. The wider field view at 40X was quite memorable with 47 Tuc and the surrounding star fields against a dark background nicely framing the comet.
That was a great pickup with a 140mm Refractor Steve. I was thinking a much larger scope was needed to see this comet. I will certainly be looking for this comet once i get my hands back on a scope again !
Clouds, rain for the past week and forecast for the next week .. this is not a happening thing for me. Keep posting pix guys cos that is probably all I am going to see.