Just a heads up for those of you with better skies than here in Mackay. I am having trouble shooting through thick haze, so those with clear skies should get much better pics. Even the Sun is dim today.
This is Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon). Not sure of the magnitude, maybe 10+, maybe brighter, hard to tell through this crud. It moves into very interesting skies over the next few weeks, crossing through Crux. Should make for some very interesting pics!
This pic through haze and cloud, taken with a Pentax K-x, 2+3 min exposures at ISO 800, Skywatcher 120mm F5 achro refractor, Baader Semi-APO filter. Satellite trail on the right.
I never had chance to actually try for it visually before the clouds covered it. Probably an easy target for an 8 inch or larger scope. According to http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ it's going to brighten rapidly.
I was able to observe this comet last night (~12:30am) in Melbourne's suburban light polluted skies. Transparency was good but seeing not so much due to the high temperature.
It was fairly large and diffuse, but easy enough to pick up with a 10" dob even though it was only about about 15 degrees in altitude and the moon was about to rise. It would have been a very easy target in dark skies.
I would give you a magnitude estimate, but I'm just a noob and wouldn't have a clue how to do that!!
I was observing the comet on Friday. I didn't realize how bright it was. Easy to find too. I wanted to track it all week to see how fast it's moving but the cloud gods have interrupted my plans again. It's funny how a fuzzy ball can get you all excited.
Hi Kevin,
Amazing images. I am located in Brazil and had a good sky yesterday (01-05) until 11:00 pm. Based on your information, I prepared my equipament to image this comet but guess what, around 00:00 very thick clouds came and completely closed the sky. But I will try again as soon as I have a good condition.
