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Old 04-11-2018, 03:35 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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mag5 comet

Should be easily visible in Binos....
46p/Wirtanen
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Old 27-11-2018, 06:14 AM
RichardJ (Richard)
Psalm 19: 1 - 4

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Comet 49P Wirtanen

Observed the comet last night with my 10 x 50mm binoculars at home in Carlingford. Was over head at about 10.30pm. Large and diffuse, very nebulous. No tail. My guess at magnitude would be around 7. Hoping to get a better view under a dark sky this weekend.

RichardJ
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Old 27-11-2018, 08:38 AM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Richard,
Well done!
Glad to hear someone has had success....
The weather down here has been absolutely terrible.....
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Old 01-12-2018, 08:24 PM
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In between all the haze up here I was able to spot the comet last night .
Big fuzzball in 12x40 IS Binoculars!
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Old 01-12-2018, 10:37 PM
Saturnine (Jeff)
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Just observed 46P earlier tonight from our semi dark site, about 5.5 visual mag. Thought I could just make it out naked eye and a fellow member said the same Through 9 X 60 binos it was an easy catch and at a rough guess appeared about a 1 deg. coma. Hope to get some images from an dark site on Monday evening.
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Old 02-12-2018, 06:32 AM
RichardJ (Richard)
Psalm 19: 1 - 4

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Observed the comet last night and showed a number of people through my 102mm refractor and the Society’s 16 inch scope at our regular observing session at Crago. Easy to see in 10 x 50mm binoculars. I thought it was about mag 5.5 or 6. Will be interesting to see how bright it gets.

RichardJ
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Old 02-12-2018, 06:51 AM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Thunder, Lighting, cloud and rain down here last night................
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Old 02-12-2018, 10:58 PM
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Zubenel (Wes)
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We observed 46P from Cambroon Observatory lst night through "Zamar". 35MM Pan giving 72 x mag and a FOV of 0.96 degrees. Comet 46P was contained in the FOV. It had a very tight and bright coma diffusing to an outer halo of about 30 arc minutes. A tail was evident by way of a significant assymentry with the outer halo being almost non existant to one side..
Easily visable in the 10 x 50 finder . Naked eye showed a very dim nebulous haze around Mag 6 would be my guess.
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Old 03-12-2018, 06:45 AM
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Observed 46P/Wirtanen last Saturday from Crowdy Bay Nat Park around 9:30pm with 16x50 binos. It was almost overhead at that time. I knew there would be no tail at this stage, but I was surprised not to find the core. It was more like a globular cluster - quite large and fuzzy ball. Very easy to spot. At the moment I wasn't sure if it's the comet, but then I double and triple checked location with the map etc. Definitely the comet.
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Old 03-12-2018, 09:08 PM
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We observed 46p with the ED80 tonight from Newcastle (not a dark site).
I thought it would be a change to go visual rather than open up the observatory, so the kids were allowed to stay up for it. The ED80 has no actual finder, just a Telrad, so it was star hopping all the way from Menkar. After a fruitless half hour I realised I had left the crappy Series 500 Plossl in the scope (it only serves as a dust cap these days), so was trying to star hop with a 15mm EP. Popping in a 32mm Televue Plossl and we were soon on top of it - not as bright as I was expecting, and I couldn't see the core, just a very faint fuzz. The kids could see it better than I could I think! My 9 year old preferred the view through the CCD/computer...

Last edited by Lee; 04-12-2018 at 12:12 PM.
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Old 04-12-2018, 11:28 AM
Saturnine (Jeff)
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Observed and imaged 46P last night from a darkish site near Jamberoo, very windy at times with strong gusts. Had to delete about 20% of subs because of wind shake. Not sure about resolving the nucleus in the 9 X 60 binos but the coma is large and fuzzy. Haven't processed the images yet but in 90 & 120 sec subs, was sure that I could make out the ion tail.
Could also notice the comet moving , relative to the background stars, from the early subs to the later ones, over about a 2 hour period between 11:00pm and 1:00am.
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Old 04-12-2018, 09:20 PM
Multiverse (Grant)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saturnine View Post
Observed and imaged 46P last night from a darkish site near Jamberoo, very windy at times with strong gusts. Had to delete about 20% of subs because of wind shake. Not sure about resolving the nucleus in the 9 X 60 binos but the coma is large and fuzzy. Haven't processed the images yet but in 90 & 120 sec subs, was sure that I could make out the ion tail.
Could also notice the comet moving , relative to the background stars, from the early subs to the later ones, over about a 2 hour period between 11:00pm and 1:00am.
Looks like you had at least some success Jeff, wish I could have come along. Looking forward to see your processed images.
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Old 06-12-2018, 11:06 AM
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These are great reports you guys, especially Wes', such great info, thanks!
I've been trying every night this week to observe it but cloud just won't budge .

The size (as seen from Earth that is), is now reported to be larger than the Full Moon. I've come across a couple of astrophotographers scratching their heads over the constant appearance and disappearance of the ion tail in a short period with their pics. Drama Queen..... .

Now reported at mag. +5.
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Old 06-12-2018, 11:14 AM
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I observed it last night, about 1 degree and visible to the naked eye!
In any scope it showed a bright core, tiny tail and large coma.
It kind of looked like a dim 47 tuc!
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Old 06-12-2018, 11:25 AM
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Tried last night from Mt Waverley, LP is terrible.
It was barely visible in binoculars (7x50)... If I didn't know where to look, I wouln't spot it at all.
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Old 06-12-2018, 12:54 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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46P Wirtanen Finder Chart

Latest finder chart......
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Old 06-12-2018, 05:53 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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Ken and all..should be a reasonable night here in Sydney..The Comet , Mars and Neptune within a degree of each other (for a few nights) and lovely M77 and Gamma Ceti not far from the comet!
bigjoe.
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Old 07-12-2018, 06:35 AM
N1 (Mirko)
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Observed 46P last night from Beverly Begg Obs in Dunedin City. Not a naked eye object from there but the view was surprisingly good in 15x70 binoculars, 5" refractor and 13" reflector, each showing different aspects of it, and each equally good. No tail discernible, but a reasonably well defined core in the 5" and 13". Context view provided by the binoculars really showed (in a way the other scopes could not) how big this object is. Powers used were 15x - 50x approx, AFOV around the 50° mark, so at the higher powers the comet filled the field of view.
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Old 07-12-2018, 06:57 AM
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Observed it from Mt Stromlo Observatory last night in the 18".
Widest field I could get is 1º. Much better this week, should be 'great' by the time it gets close to Pleiades and brightens a bit more.....

Taking the Binoscope up tonight for wider field.......
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Old 07-12-2018, 07:46 AM
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Tinderboxsky (Steve)
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I had good views of 46P on Wednesday evening from here at Tinderbox. I think I liked the binocular view the most - only 6.5X magnification but sharp 9deg true FOV which certainly confirmed it’s large size and gave it context amongst the interesting star field.
Spent some time closer up with a telescope. It is certainly moving quickly. I could detect a slight change in position between 45 minute observations.
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