Was getting worried about Comet Hartley 2 103P, as weather has been atrocious. Cloudy a LOT.
Anyway, weatherzone said pretty clear overnight, so up 2400 hrs, and trudged doen the beach with camera and binoculars.
Took awhile for Perseus to rise up over the muck above the sea, then light cloud floating in and out.
Tried in bins but couldnt find it.
Took bucketload of pics, and wasnt until I put on the 50mm lens, that I could see the comet in the images, and knew then exactly where to look.
Voila, there it was, a very large and faint ...blob. Like a big round nebula. Yeah, very happy to have got it!!
Didnt try in the Dob, too hard to get it in a position to view comet, and would waken the neighbours, while trying to drag it down driveway.
We have incoming cloud again over the next few days, then the Moon will be around.
I will post some more pics later in the Imaging section, but time to catch some zzzzz, and dream happy dreams.
Thats awesome Liz! Congrats!!!!
Thanks for sharing the pics!
Unfortunately i may not see this comet in all it's glory as i have been constantly been battered by cloud and rain, the weather reports aren't looking good at all, they said on the news last night that the rain will be staying with us for the next couple of months at least so i may not be able to see anything!
Thanks guys.
Yes, was happy to get it, as I ended up missing Encke, and didnt want that to happen.I know this comet is getting brighter, but you dont know what conditions are going to be like.
It is pretty low on horizon, so tricky for anyone southerly than Tville, though Ron did get it.
It is so faint though, hard to believe that it is ? mag 5.5 ish. I definitely couldnt see it naked eye, and was a struggle with the bins too, mainly using averted vision. It is so large and faint.
It has climbed higher so should be able to get it in my yard in the next week or so, yes, definitely have a look in the Dob Mozzie.
Hope the clouds clear a bit down south for you all, though Roberto is fine.
Do you need a trip up north Chris??
Previsions say that this comet will increase its brightness to 4th magnitude within the end of this month. This comet will be in Auriga-Gemini at that time, easy to see from Australia too.
I've only seen one comet, and that was Halley's, way back when, . I just haven't bothered to chase down any others, . Another thing to add to "The List"...
This SkyMap Pro map shows Comet Hartley's position at 4am AEDT for the next 4 weeks.
103P will be 0.5 degrees to the left of rho Aur tomorrow at 4am. (That is about 4.3 deg above Capella)
Very handy and timely for the next new Moon this November. Will make for an interesting comparsion between binoculars and a 17.5" scope for sure.
Would you be able to post this picture of yours in the November Challenge when it gets up? Maybe extend the period for a couple of more weeks into November too. I think it will make for quite a stir.
. Another thing to add to "The List"...
