Comet C2012 S1 ISON
21/11/13
3.40 – 4.10am
EQUIPMENT: 4” Newtonian and 10x60 Binoculars.
At 3.40am, the comet is sitting 10 degrees below and just to the right of Spica and 5 degrees above my horizon playing a dance with the power lines. Through my 10x60 binoculars it was easy to spot and had a slight bluish tinge. It resembled a bright fuzzy round patch. There was some elongation to the north. No tail is visible.
By the time I find and view it through my 4” scope, it is now around 3.50am and twilight is well and truly setting in with a bluish sky.
Using a 15mm widefield eyepiece at 66 X magnification: Wow- I couldn’t get over how blue comet ISON is; especially considering the sky is now showing blue from twilight emerging. Blue on blue- very pretty. The sky is now too bright to see any fuzzy halo or an elongation. All that could be seen is the bright central condensation in the shape of a round blue ball.
It’s now 4am and the comet is 10 degrees above my horizon. I swap back to my binoculars- despite the yellowing of sunrise now emerging low on the horizon; it is still an easy target. By 4.10am it’s gone from my view.
The outburst last week put this comet around magnitude 5.
Today’s viewing has it by reports at magnitude 3.7.
In my observation (and I’m no expert at comet mag. estimates here) but I have observed 2013’s comet Lemmon which was sitting around mag.5 and this was so much brighter!
This image best represents what I saw through my 10x60 binoculars, although the central condensation wasn’t so bright. And thru my 4” scope, the central condensation only was visible as a round blue ball:
This image best represents what I saw through the eyepiece of my 4” scope.
Though the central condensation was rounder. And as twilight was now well under way, I couldn’t see any coma or elongation.
Thanks for reading.
IMAGES CREDIT:
Michael Uberty
Comet ISON 11/20/13
6:15 AM EST- LeRoy NY USA
10" Dob w/ 8mm EP
Handheld Canon Powershot ELPH310 @ the EP.