#21  
Old 07-12-2018, 01:52 PM
bigjoe (JOSEPH)
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re Position

Moving FAST alright; COMET'S
Positions in attachment
bigjoe.
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  #22  
Old 09-12-2018, 07:21 AM
Greggles (Gregory)
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Hi every one,

Any tips on observing the comet? I was searching for about 2 hours last night before I gave up.

According to its location on stellarium I was looking in the right place and it should of been in my FOV but couldn't identify it (or at least couldn't distinguish between it and a star) The location on stellarium seemed to slightly differ from one of the online sources, has any one else had this issue?

My equipment and location may also be the reason why I cant see it. I am looking through a cheap 76/700 in light polluted sydney skys. I thought it still be identifiable though?

Thanks for your help,

Greg
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  #23  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:30 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greggles View Post
Hi every one,

Any tips on observing the comet? I was searching for about 2 hours last night before I gave up.

.....

My equipment and location may also be the reason why I cant see it. I am looking through a cheap 76/700 in light polluted sydney skys. I thought it still be identifiable though?
I had trouble earlier in the week with an ED80 in the Newcastle suburbs, I suspect light pollution had something to do with it, it was very faint, I suspect any more background light and we wouldn't have been able to catch it.
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  #24  
Old 09-12-2018, 09:48 AM
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DeWynter (ILYA)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greggles View Post
Hi every one,

Any tips on observing the comet? I was searching for about 2 hours last night before I gave up.

According to its location on stellarium I was looking in the right place and it should of been in my FOV but couldn't identify it (or at least couldn't distinguish between it and a star) The location on stellarium seemed to slightly differ from one of the online sources, has any one else had this issue?

My equipment and location may also be the reason why I cant see it. I am looking through a cheap 76/700 in light polluted sydney skys. I thought it still be identifiable though?

Thanks for your help,

Greg
I observed the comet on 1/12 from a very dark site (pitch black, very far from any light pollution) and I was able to find it quite easily in less than a minute - big, contrast fuzzy ball. Yesterday I observed it from Terrey Hills and it was extremely difficult to find it. It was very-very faint. And I spent good 15 mins trying to locate it. So dark skies are the key!
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  #25  
Old 09-12-2018, 12:49 PM
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I finally got a patch of clear sky in Brisbane last night.
10x60 binos used from suburbia. Still no luck seeing it despite knowing exactly where to look. I'm not surprised being mag +5 with looking north over the city lights.

I was hoping to catch it in binos before observing with my 10" scope, but cloud spread. I've seen quite a few mag +6 comets through my scope from my location and they're an easy catch, still managing to look great from light pollution. I'm back to a blanket of white sky today again grrr.
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  #26  
Old 10-12-2018, 03:49 PM
Bendy (Ben)
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Hi Greg,

I tried using Stellarium to find the comet last night and struggled for quite a while. In the end I found a finder chart from Cometwatch, which showed the comet in a slightly different spot and found it almost straight away - perhaps I/we are using older versions of Stellarium??

The chart I used with success last night can be found here:

http://www.cometwatch.co.uk/wp-conte...18/10/46p3.jpg

Ben


Quote:
Originally Posted by Greggles View Post
Hi every one,

Any tips on observing the comet? I was searching for about 2 hours last night before I gave up.

According to its location on stellarium I was looking in the right place and it should of been in my FOV but couldn't identify it (or at least couldn't distinguish between it and a star) The location on stellarium seemed to slightly differ from one of the online sources, has any one else had this issue?

My equipment and location may also be the reason why I cant see it. I am looking through a cheap 76/700 in light polluted sydney skys. I thought it still be identifiable though?

Thanks for your help,

Greg
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  #27  
Old 10-12-2018, 05:19 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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You can update the comet data in CdC and show all the latest comets
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  #28  
Old 10-12-2018, 09:37 PM
Greggles (Gregory)
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Thanks Bendy,

Now just need a clear night!

Gregory

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bendy View Post
Hi Greg,

I tried using Stellarium to find the comet last night and struggled for quite a while. In the end I found a finder chart from Cometwatch, which showed the comet in a slightly different spot and found it almost straight away - perhaps I/we are using older versions of Stellarium??

The chart I used with success last night can be found here:

http://www.cometwatch.co.uk/wp-conte...18/10/46p3.jpg

Ben
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  #29  
Old 10-12-2018, 09:42 PM
Nab (Darren)
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Spotted easily from the outskirts of Ballarat tonight through my 10x50s. About 5.5 degrees from Menkab as expected. A large diffuse coma standing out against the background. I think it was just on the verge of naked eye visibility. Glad that I have seen it since cloud is the norm here at the moment.

Cheers
Darren.
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  #30  
Old 10-12-2018, 10:35 PM
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redbeard (Damien)
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Quote:

The chart I used with success last night can be found here:

http://www.cometwatch.co.uk/wp-conte...18/10/46p3.jpg
Cheers all, for the maps, I used this one too and saw it in binos.
A bit to the right and up a bit from that orangey star Menkar made it easy.
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  #31  
Old 11-12-2018, 02:30 PM
Sconesbie (Scott)
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I thought I saw it last night but thinking now I didn't. I used 10x25 binoculars.

I looked at the orange star in Taurus (don't know the name) then approx 11:00 from there I saw something move. It tracked approx north west slowly but very faint. It wasn't green. It wasn't a star and moved too slow for meteor?
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  #32  
Old 11-12-2018, 04:21 PM
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Tinderboxsky (Steve)
I can see clearly now ...

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I had an excellent view last night through 6.5X32 bins. It was a very large and very obvious fuzzy patch with slight brightening towards the centre. Definitely much larger than the full Moon and no tail.
So, you should be able to see it with your bins as long as you are not swamped by light pollution. I don’t think you were seeing it given your description.
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  #33  
Old 12-12-2018, 08:26 AM
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The_bluester (Paul)
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I had a nice view last night through binos just after dark, very easy to spot from the position given in Stellarium as it was nicely contained in an easy to identify asterism.

No tail as such but I would have said that the fuzzy patch was biased to one side, assuming the tail direction in the image Joe put up a few posts up the page is correct that is where I would have said the visible fuzz was biased toward.

Hoping for some more clear nights so I can show my young'un
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  #34  
Old 12-12-2018, 08:58 AM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Ignore the tail....
This is what CdC shows at the moment.
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  #35  
Old 13-12-2018, 09:08 PM
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Here's why it's even more of a Christmas comet in the Northern hemisphere:

http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv...load_id=149947
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  #36  
Old 14-12-2018, 08:16 AM
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The_bluester (Paul)
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Well, not a lot of chance to show it to the young bloke since I saw it in the binos.

Not complaining, we would probably have had to buy in drinking water next week and the rain yesterday put that a couple of weeks down the track, another 100mm evenly spread over a few days would be nice!
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  #37  
Old 16-12-2018, 01:14 PM
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NorthernLight (Max)
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We tried to find it last night from suburban Auckland (Bortel 8). I could make it out with 8x40 binoculars but only because I knew exactly where it was and by moving the binos around to spot it with averted vision. Couldn’t find it with the scope finder and gave up after an hour. In hindsight I should have stood up the big rig and used plate solving to find it. That way I could have taken a photo. This one is definitely a hard to find comet in light pollution. Today it’s raining of course....
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