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  #41  
Old 29-08-2011, 06:10 AM
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Had a look last night , a couple of degrees east of m71
couldn't really see a tail, though seeing was pretty average .

good to be well again and get outdoors
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  #42  
Old 29-08-2011, 09:22 PM
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Quote:
It's magnitude is in the low to mid 8's,
der to me ,
obviously not paying attention to those details and was expecting something a little brighter. will pay closer attention next time. clouds have come over tonight. typical, my celestron neximage camera arrived today
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  #43  
Old 30-08-2011, 06:20 AM
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Originally Posted by stopusinmyid View Post
der to me ,
obviously not paying attention to those details and was expecting something a little brighter. will pay closer attention next time. clouds have come over tonight. typical, my celestron neximage camera arrived today
Ooh, new camera tammy, probably clouded out for a few daysss for you. When I saw the comet last, it was a big (astronomically talking) beautiful blob, so dont expect it to be too bright .... yet.

Pretty cloudy last night here too, so didnt set up scope, but took a couple of pics with camera on tripod, so will check out shortly.
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  #44  
Old 30-08-2011, 07:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Giorgio View Post
The attached image is a screenshot done with stellarium. Garradd position (more or less) is in the center of the overlapping Telrad pattern and highlighted by a pale red circle.
I also added what I reckon it may be the path Garradd covered since last week (I approximately knew then where it was by Cartes du Ciel).
If this path is right, I should find her tomorrow following it.
I hope this image may help others to find her. Please let me know if it actually will work for you
Thanks for the image. Now I know I'm looking in the roight place, I recognised the asterism. Just have to open my eyes a bit wider if the clouds get cooperative and drag the big scope out. Might even finally get to test my 2" 32mm EP !! Should be a good choice for wide feild scanning.
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  #45  
Old 04-09-2011, 07:59 PM
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Had another go at this tonight, Evening cleared up but half a moon washed out the sky somewhat. Still no luck even with the 10" but I'm not sure where it is now. Clouds returned in force at 9:00pm and that was the end of that.

But did manage to get the 32mm 2" EP into action. Great feild of view and quite good right out towards the edges although it was quite sensitive about being on axis viewing. If your eye wandered off a mm then it got all 'edgy' and you lost the view.

Also got the O III onto the 20 mm superview and had a good look at Lagoon despite the fact it was very close to the moon. The O III made a big difference to how much of the neb structure you could see and the extent of it. Quite effective although quite a lot darker of course.

I also got some workshop time in and built most of the new Dob AZ base for the Serrurier build. I'll photo it when it goes together and add it to the DIY thread.
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  #46  
Old 04-09-2011, 09:28 PM
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Originally Posted by ZeroID View Post
Had another go at this tonight, Evening cleared up but half a moon washed out the sky somewhat. Still no luck even with the 10" but I'm not sure where it is now.
Updated CdC chart. Sep 4 to Sep 28.
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  #47  
Old 05-09-2011, 08:14 AM
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Dammitt !! thanks.
I must be going blind as or the LP is chronic. I was scouring that general area. <sigh> Mag 12.4 is probably pretty marginal in the soup I'm peering through. Be no good in the 80mm for sure.
I'll have another go tonight, scope is still out there waiting.
Might try and find Pallas while I'm there.
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  #48  
Old 05-09-2011, 10:38 AM
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Woohoo I caught it in my binos!!!

Brent, I saw the comet in my 10x60 binos last night!
I viewed it from suburbia and light pollution to boot, so you should have no trouble seeing it thru your scope.
I tried for it while the moon was out and sinking below the horizon, but no luck. Had another go when the moon disappeared and there it was!

To find it, I followed the directions that AstroRon had given me...
Have a look where the gap is between the hook and the rest of the coat hanger, keeping on that same line, I then I looked to the right (with scope's upside down image, look to the left). I estimate it's only within 2 deg. of the cluster. Thru the binos, it's dim and fuzzy but largish in size (sorry, wish I knew how to determine arc secs.).
The cluster and the comet fitted in beautifully with room to spare in my binos. I have about a 6 deg fov thru them, so there looked to be about 4 deg to the right left over after the comet. Hope that makes sense.

You'll get it I know you will; look forward to your report on it!
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  #49  
Old 05-09-2011, 01:22 PM
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How do I put it into Stellarium pleased? Running it on an imac
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  #50  
Old 05-09-2011, 01:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mithrandir View Post
If you don't have 0.10.6 upgrade. Adding entries to ssystem.ini by hand will cause you to quickly reduce the quantity of your cranial hair.

Once you have Stellarium 0.10.6:
<F2>
Plugins
Solar System Editor - if "Load at startup" is NOT ticked, tick it, go back to "Main", click "Save settings", exit Stellarium, restart and come back to Solar System Editor.
click "configure"
"Solar System"

If C/2009 P1 is not in the list of objects:

"Import orbital ..."
"Comets" radio button
"Download ..." radio button
"Select bookmark" - by default there is only one to choose
"Get ..."

"Update ..."
"Only orbital ..." - I tick this.
"Mark all" or just the ones that interest you. C/2009 P1 should be in the list.
"Add objects"

Close all the config windows and you are done. You can select it as the target with <F3> and typing the name.

If it wasn't in the list, you could click the "Online search" tab, type the name in upper case - lower does not work, it has to match MPC's database - and click the magnifying glass.

Andrew
OK, Done this. When I go to F2/Plugins I have a list which says
Angle Measure
Compass Marks
satellites
Solar System Editor
Telescope Control
Text User Interface
Time Zone

For Solar System Editor it says Contact http://stellarium.org

I can't find a contact email there and the forum doesn't seem to have anything. Can anyone help, please?
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  #51  
Old 05-09-2011, 01:37 PM
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What are the RA Dec each night for September? I hate the comet-minor planet emphemeris site... too hard to work anything simple out!

Last edited by Gem; 05-09-2011 at 01:38 PM. Reason: typo
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  #52  
Old 05-09-2011, 01:45 PM
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Ok... found it now on another thread...
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  #53  
Old 05-09-2011, 06:04 PM
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Got it !!
Little fuzz ball fortunately sitting in a dark area between HIP 96596 and HIP 94910. Definitely NOT viewable in my binocs and CBD LP. The only EP which had the right combo of FOV and dark was the 20mm GSO Superview. 32 mm lost it in glare and in the 15 mm it just got too dark to find. We've also got thin haze tonight so even seeing Coat Hanger is a mission in naked eye.
Think I got some indication of tail direction with averted vision, high east I'd say. Almost a pinpoint of the head in the fuzz ball. No wonder I was having problems just scanning around for it.
Might give it another whirl later on when it gets further over north and hopefully the CBD lights drop a bit. My north western sky is limited by the trees and a small volcano so waiting for the moon to set is not really an option.
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  #54  
Old 05-09-2011, 09:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Analog6 View Post
OK, Done this. When I go to F2/Plugins I have a list which says
Angle Measure
Compass Marks
satellites
Solar System Editor
Telescope Control
Text User Interface
Time Zone

For Solar System Editor it says Contact http://stellarium.org

I can't find a contact email there and the forum doesn't seem to have anything. Can anyone help, please?
Once you select SSE in the list, look at the the bottom right of that pop-up window.

You have to tick the "load at start" checkbox, save settings from the "Main" tab, quit Stellarium and come back to SSE before you can click configure.
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  #55  
Old 05-09-2011, 09:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gem View Post
What are the RA Dec each night for September? I hate the comet-minor planet emphemeris site... too hard to work anything simple out!
It's not that hard, if a bit tedious first try. Go to http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi

Fill in as per the screenshot. The "change" links take you to subsidiary pages to fill in the values. I used the "60 days" option to get those start/stop/interval values. Click "Generate Ephemeris". If you allow the cookies it will remember what you said for next time.

You could use the "Table Settings" to restrict the output to just the first few columns.
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  #56  
Old 06-09-2011, 01:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mithrandir View Post
Once you select SSE in the list, look at the the bottom right of that pop-up window.

You have to tick the "load at start" checkbox, save settings from the "Main" tab, quit Stellarium and come back to SSE before you can click configure.
Thanks for that. I did that and ended up when I tried to search for the files with the message the server http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/~cgi/MPEph2 was unavailable. Just an error. I probably did something wrong. I give up, I'll just come here and see where it is.
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  #57  
Old 06-09-2011, 04:55 PM
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Odille ..... i keep going back to this post of Andrews when I forget how to put in a new comet.

Configuration->Plugins->Solar System Editor->configure
Solar System tab
"Import ..." button
Comets
Download ...
Select bookmark -> MPC's list ...
Get ...
Mark all (or just the ones you want)
Add objects
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  #58  
Old 08-09-2011, 04:52 AM
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Hadnt seen the comet for ages, but had a good look last night at our public night. A faint blob in the moonlit sky, but still clear enough.
Alas, the public were expecting a big tail.
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  #59  
Old 19-09-2011, 07:20 PM
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Checked out P1 tonight, and its looking great!!

My skies are darker than when I observed it last, and tonight it was a large reasonably bright condensed blob, with elongation (tail thingy?) coming out from the ..... NE (if I reverse the look in the scope )

Tried for Comet Swan but no luck.

Tried the Comet Filter I bought from the US but minimal difference to Garrad, and didnt help in finding Swan.
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  #60  
Old 19-09-2011, 09:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Liz View Post
Checked out P1 tonight, and its looking great!!

My skies are darker than when I observed it last, and tonight it was a large reasonably bright condensed blob, with elongation (tail thingy?) coming out from the ..... NE (if I reverse the look in the scope )

Tried for Comet Swan but no luck.

Tried the Comet Filter I bought from the US but minimal difference to Garrad, and didnt help in finding Swan.
Funny, I looked at P1 last night and thought it was dimmer than last time I saw it Liz, but my situation was reverse - worse skies than last time I looked! Still looked good though. Also saw SWAN, but it appeared tiny and very faint in my little scope. Had to use averted vision, maybe only an arcminute in diameter visible. Very pleased to eyeball it just because of the degree of difficulty, LOL.

Probably a more experienced comet observer can advise you, but I think P1 doesn't respond that well to the Swan Filter because it is very dusty. SWAN would because it is much more 'gassy', but it is faint and small and the filter is probably not such a good tool to track it down with.

Cheers -
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