Although an infrequent visitor to this site, I thought that occasional viewers might like to know that Comet Lemmon has been moving through Canis Major in recent evenings and is now about magnitude 7 and increasing in brightness as it heads SE at about 2 degrees each day. I regularly pick it up in 25X100 binos and more detail is seen in my 10" Dob. I have still not observed a tail ( I blame the Moon and old eyes for this! ) but a younger mate can spot a splotchy tail. I have generated a map using Skymap Pro so you might like to try.
Kind regards,
Eugene O'Connor,
Have been observing the comet and also tried to image as well for the past few nights but , as you said, the moon is doing any favours in that regard. Has been interesting watching it glide by M41 this weekend and in a few weeks time when the moon is out of the way it will be approaching Alphard in Hydra and will pass quite close ( in line of sight ) on the 22nd / 23rd
Last edited by Saturnine; 31-05-2020 at 11:15 PM.
Reason: Add image
Good to hear from you Jeff and David. We had a similar event with Swan in April where we had a nicely contrasted star in the field. Looking for clear skies on the 23rd. and hopefully a glimpse of a tail when the moon disappears. Nice shot of Lemmon and M41, Jeff.
Thanks for the comment on the image, it was a quick grab of 90 sec. so could have done better with better planning. Some encounters to note, on the 7th the comet will be 45' NW of NGC2440 and a few deg. east of M46 & 47. Could make a nice wide field view but ruined by the full moon unfortunately.
Also of note is that in late July around the 18th to 23rd it will be gliding past the Virgo Galaxy cluster. Not sure what magnitude it may be, probably fading by then.
Thanks for the information, Jeff. I will make a note. One of the great bonuses of the comet hunting, I have found, is that it takes you through some interesting and unusual parts of the sky that are often ignored.
I look forward to the dark of the moon to follow this one.
Regards, Eugene