#701  
Old 13-09-2012, 04:45 PM
Rob_K
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Lovejoy revisited

Funny how hindsight changes things. As the comet faded off in Jan-Feb-Mar, it took heavier & heavier processing to reveal anything. Now, looking back, there's a lot more to be got from the shots when the comet was bright.

This one for instance, from 26 Dec 2011 (morning of 27 Dec our time). At the time, my report was that this shot showed 33 deg of tail and that 26 deg was visible visually. With a bit more juice, 38 deg is clearly showing in the shot. Not only that, "greater than 38-deg" would be a better estimate because the tail gets cut off pretty abruptly by vignetting on the edge of the top frame.
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...dec2011inv.jpg

Here's the 'normal' version of the 4-frame stitch, each 3 x 2 min with Canon 400D at 55mm (incidentally, just got around to stitching these!). Note the band of green airglow above the horizon:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...11lgecrasm.jpg

And here's a mangled positive version:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/w...ec2011deep.jpg

Cheers -
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  #702  
Old 13-09-2012, 06:32 PM
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Wow that is impressive..thanks for posting Rob!
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  #703  
Old 13-09-2012, 09:32 PM
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Great Shot Rob, I am so hoping for another comet like this.
I dragged my partner up in the early hrs for a look at this around Xmas and boy was it worth it !
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  #704  
Old 07-10-2013, 10:29 AM
davidseargent (David)
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Just letting you know that I have placed an article on sungrazers at www.david-seargent.simplesite.com. If my speculations are not too wild, there would seem to be a chance that a second "Lovejoy-size" Kreutz may come along in the not-too-distant future!
David
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  #705  
Old 07-10-2013, 10:55 AM
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Nice article David, let's keep our fingers crossed!

Definitely worth a link to your Kindle e-book too, "Sungrazing Comets - Snowballs in the Furnace", a fantastic read for anyone interested in sungrazers and their history:
http://www.amazon.com/SUNGRAZING-COM.../dp/B00A9BY5AQ

Cheers -
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  #706  
Old 08-10-2013, 03:12 PM
davidseargent (David)
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Just having a look at Terry's image of 2012 E2. Interesting that it appears a bluish-green colour, probably indicating that it was then mostly the usual cometary gases rather than dust or Na emission. That ties up with the fact that this has been the only Kreutz imaged in SWAN and also supports my thought that it was a very icy fragment from deep within the broken parent fragment. If I identified the background stars correctly, I would very roughly estimate the brightness to have been about mag. 7 - 7.5 at the time. If it was around 9 at discovery, the H10 should have been approximately 12. At that time, it was probably at least as bright as Lovejoy, yet must have been a far smaller object as it seems to have peaked at no more than +1 and did not make it to perihelion. That also supports the suggestion that this was a very icy object whereas Lovejoy was largely covered by an insulating crust (at least, the portion turned toward the Sun pre-T was).
Cheers
David
(PS. Thanks for your kind words Rob ... and for your plug for my Kindle book!)
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  #707  
Old 09-11-2013, 09:17 AM
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What a little beauty!!

This is an easy target in binoculars, so if you havent spotted it, then give it a go over the following mornings while there is no Moon.

It has been close to M44 in Cancer but is moving SE, and brightening.

Image from this am, Canon on tripod only, at 70mm, ISO 4000 for 25 sec or so.
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  #708  
Old 09-11-2013, 09:43 AM
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glenc (Glen)
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S&T article

The Other Great Morning Comet
While Comet ISON is brightening rapidly, Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1) is far more impressive right now in the pre-dawn sky.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...231157211.html

The Guide9 map below shows Comet Lovejoy's position tomorrow 10 Nov, at 4am AEDT and its path till the 20th.
It will be 6.6 degrees from M44 tomorrow.
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Last edited by glenc; 09-11-2013 at 10:02 AM.
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  #709  
Old 14-11-2013, 03:19 AM
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I just had a look at Comet Lovejoy. Picked it up easily with 12x60 binoculars.
The comet's tail was about 30' long when looking through a 16" Dob using a 21mm EP.
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  #710  
Old 14-11-2013, 11:24 AM
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astroron (Ron)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glenc View Post
I just had a look at Comet Lovejoy. Picked it up easily with 12x60 binoculars.
The comet's tail was about 30' long when looking through a 16" Dob using a 21mm EP.
Glen, your observation concurs with my observation 10/11/13
see here
Cheers
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  #711  
Old 29-11-2013, 10:43 AM
davidseargent (David)
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I have just added a few more speculative thoughts to my sungrazer blog at www.david-seargent.simplesite.com that might be of interest to the sungrazer enthusiasts out there. Not quite as optimistic about a second 2011 W3-type comet in the near future as I was earlier (maybe the "second" one was SWAN after all?), but I would be very happy to be proven wrong VERY soon!
Cheers anmd clear skies.
David
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  #712  
Old 29-11-2013, 08:26 PM
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Hi David, I hope there are more fragments on the way. Something Ikeya-Seki sized in December or January would be good! Well done regarding the website, I will have a good read later

Clear Skies,
Terry
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