Last night 14-15 Aug 2015 around midnight i found comet C2013 U10 Catalina. It was obvious in an 8" dob at low power. However it was not visible through the finder. The coma was fairly condensed, and there was a definite broad elongation 1/8 deg long. There was no sign of a nucleus. I could see 2 faints stars behind the coma.
There could we have been high cloud about.
The prediction of 7th mag is about right.
It high up early on, and circumpolar... at least from Hobart.
Good catch Stefan,
Deb and I who are very new to Astro stuff found Catalina from our beer garden around 19:00 last night.
I could barely make it out in our 7x50 bino's and as with you could not see it in the finderscope.
Thankfully though we knew where to find it from charts supplied from here http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm
We are very greatful to the person or persons behind this site as it has allowed us beginners to find Lovejoy, Masters, Panstarrs and now Catalina.
The beauty of comets is that our LX90 can't find them as a goto scope, which forces us to read star charts then guide the scope to target.
Love it and we hope to continue this side of the sky adventure.
We had clear skies tonight !!! 20/Sep/2015. Found Comet Catalina again. The sky was clear, a bit misty, with moonlight. 8" Dob, still an elongated blob.
I saw the Comet tonight with 8x40 binoculars and in a 4inch refractor. Its larger and brighter than I expected and easy to find being in Apus, but basically near Alpha in Triangulum Austalae. The Moon was above the horizon when I first viewed it, but was low and about to set.
The prior post describes it well. I could not see a tail.
We had a break in the clouds, and I got a reasonable view of the comet in an 8" dob. I found it by sweeping with a low power eyepiece. It's obvious. It may have been just visible in the finder, but that may have been near the cluster NGC 5822. The comet had a star like nucleus (no stars brighter than 11) show up on Stellarium. I kept getting glimpse of short tail with an asymmetry in the coma brighter on the south side of the coma. There was an impression of a stub of a tail that was narrower than the coma. I was using averted vision. Conditions were dark, but light polluted, with a hint of mist. A cloud patch stopped observation. Hope there is some nice image as a comparison.
Last night about 19:30 from my backyard in Albion (some 4 km North of Brisbane CBD). No view of Catalina through the finderscope, but could easily follow a star hop from Sigma Lupus to Catalina's location as presented by Stellarium.
Through the eyepiece, too much light pollution to observe any structure other than a fuzzy ball of coma and maybe faint starlike nucleus without the averted imagination running wild.
I used the same star hop myself last night when fine high cloud cleared at about 10pm. Catalina was just visible in my 8x50 finder and a fine sight in my 140 mm refractor. The coma was bright with some condensation towards the central spot. A very faint diffuse short tail was visible in moments of better seeing. The comet was set against a pretty star field.
Looked good through 10x50 binoculars the other night although its brightening rate appears to have slowed down, not unusual behaviour for first-time comets.
Attached is a little "3D" item I put together using comet shots I took last night, 14 Sept 2015.
Saw Catalina last night around 9:30pm from suburban Bunbury with a 10" dob. An obvious central spot plus elongated coma - not super bright, was relying a lot on averted vision. Would love to see it from a dark sky site
Spotted this again tonight, with the Moon not yet risen. It is still bright, but sets much earlier now. I am about to lose it behind at hill (now 8.15 EAST). I thought with a 4inch F5 refractor that it seemed more defuse than before, looking rather like an elongated smudge with a hint of a tail.
The nucleus is small but quite bright and just visible in my 50mm finder. Its just above my tree line so I'm only getting about 30min of viewing time now. Here's a pic from last night. 4" f7 achro refractor.
Caught Comet Catalina low sky. Some extra sky brightness from suburban lights. still easy to seep up, but seemed fainter. Condensed coma, a faint straight "plank" shaped tail visible ....
I found this morning (3.30ish) about 8 degrees north of Arcturus. Just a smudge to me with no hint of a tail at 30x in my 102mm ED Vixen. Comparing it to the relatively nearby M3, the comet was larger but not as bright. In 8x30 binoculars, the comet was slightly easier to find because of its size than M3.
