So, if we miss it in Oct and Nov it won't be visible afterwards from the Southern hemisphere?
Rob,it will appear in our northern sky low down on the horizon for a while in February and March being only 10° altitude on the 10th of Feb , and around 10.4 mag and getting fainter.
No bright Comet ISON for us after November.
Cheers
Thanks Ron and Andrew - was playing with it in Starry Night a few weeks ago and gathered that was the case, but always good to double check these fleeting occasions!
I looked for mag 10.8 Comet ISON this morning with a 16" Dob.
It is 1.9 degrees from Mars in pa 350. (down to the left)
The comet was low in the sky just before astro twilight and I did not see it.
I was able to image Comet ISON in Brisbane this morning, although my focus was off so couldn't get a clear image, but it's there (just!) nonetheless. Mars is at top right.
Solar System images thread here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=112778
I saw mag 10.2 comet ISON this morning at the start of astronomical twilight with a 16" Dob.
It was 1.64 degrees from Mars in pa 346. Part of its tail was just visible.
I am confident this 'Ison' will brighten considerably.. almost as it brightens just a little more, but that it's getting to close the Sun for us to see it.. sigh.. just being positive is hard. A fine morning would be nice..
I am confident this 'Ison' will brighten considerably.. almost as it brightens just a little more, but that it's getting to close the Sun for us to see it.. sigh.. just being positive is hard. A fine morning would be nice..
It would be nice if it did, just in case though I'm trying to find the ability to get up early enough in the next few days to try and bag it visually.
At this point it's an early morning thing here and at the moment the Moon is an issue but things will only improve in the coming days.
The added bonus is there are two or three in that part of the sky or thereabouts with R1 Lovejoy, X1 Linear and Encke as well.
I have only seen 1 comet through my scope before so it'd be great to cross a few more off in one foul swoop.
According to recent estimates, if it survives it looks like a logarithmic jump to mag -5 at perihelion! The problem is that it's so close to the Sun at the time. I don't see how mag -5 has a chance of competing with -26 of the Sun!
This Guide 9 map shows mag 9 Comet ISON at 4am AEDT tomorrow 27 Oct.
It will be 2.54 degrees to the right of M95 and 3.48 degrees from Mars.
The map also shows ISON's path for the next 2 weeks.
This morning at 4:30 am AEDT ISON's tail was at least 20' long.
I looked at the comet with a 16" Dob at the start of astronomical twilight when it was only 12 deg above the horizon.
I hope to see it before it disappears! I hope binoculars will be good enough because I cbf carrying the 10" down the stairs and out the front.
if I like what I see with the binos ... maybe it'll be worth the effort .. just hope for clear skies in the coming days, but work is limiting me grr
matt
also I think on discovery or Nat geo channel there is a special coming up about "comet of the century" it was only an ad and didn't listen too much about it, but it might be about ISON
confirmed : from the website
Follow a group of scientists on the trail of a once-in-lifetime celestial visitor: Comet ISON.
Next Showing on National Geographic Channel:
Tuesday, 26 November at 7:30pm
Taking photos now. Comet ISON is barely visible from suburban Brisbane 14km east of the city) in 9x63 binoculars. Comet Lovejoy is visible too - alot higher up and a bit brighter.
The media have hyped this comet way too much. I think it should be pretty clear by now that ISON is not the comet of the century, at least not for the southern hemisphere.
I think you are on the Money there Kevin. I am getting asked about ISON a lot lately & have even had people wanting to join our Astronomy Club so they can see it. I have yet to get a good look at Myself !
I will get out for another morning sesion this week, but expect Lovejoy will be better at this stage. Perhaps our 12.2S Latitude will help us have a better view in Late November ?
Here's my image of C/2012 S1 (ISON), taken from White Cliffs, NSW, this morning. This is the first time I've imaged it as it hasn't been rising above the hilly horizon at home. All I can say is that it's a faint little sucker for a reportedly mag-9ish comet! DSLR & lens aren't the ideal gear to get this one, but nonetheless this was taken at 200mm, 10 x 75 sec subs at ISO 6400, F/5.6. That's the equivalent of 10 x 10-minute subs at ISO 800!!
By contrast, I've attached this morning's image of C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) - 2nd pic - taken after ISON as twilight spread across the sky, and from only 5 subs (same camera settings). Much higher altitude though.
The recent poor performance of ISON has put it right down in the range of the first-time Oort Cloud comets that haven't survived to perihelion. My humble advice would be, if you haven't seen it yet, do so quickly!
I'd better start paying attention!
