So You Want To See Comet Lemmon And You Don't Know How To?

[Suzy]

How to find Comet (C2012) F6 Lemmon with binoculars or small telescopes just by using these easy directions.

Comet Lemmon is such a fabulous comet to observe at the moment- I really hope as many people as possible will get see it. Which is why I've done this little article- in the hope that it will be of some help to people who are new or inexperienced to this hobby, so they too can look up & enjoy this comet.


First of all:

A clear sky will give a better view- if clouds are visible either side of it, it may appear fainter (unless of course the clouds cover it!). That's the experience I've been having anyway.


A moonless night will give you a better view. Keep an eye on the moon's rise and set times. See here. (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/moonphase.html)


You will need to make sure that the Southern Cross is high enough & visible away from obstacles so you can measure with your hand the 22 degree distance to Octans from alpha Crucis.
Have a look here on how to do it: HOW TO MEASURE THE SKY WITH YOUR HAND. (http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/860/measuring-sky/)
Using this method, you need to close one eye and hold out your outstretched hand.



So let’s start star hopping now.

132001 (look further down this thread for updated screen grab maps- thanks guys).


Look south.


Orient this map to suit your sky (Stu, I hope you don't mind me using your screen grab!).
Find the Southern Cross and head to alpha Crucis- it’s the brightest star there sitting at the bottom of the cross on its right.


Now locate the next group of stars beside it- you’ll see a group of stars in a sort of X shape- that’s Musca. Look for the brightest star which is alpha Muscae sitting in the middle. Hop to that in a straight line from alpha crucis (6 degrees).


Next we head into Octans where the comet is currently travelling through. On the map, Octans is a triangle shaped constellation. Delta Octantis marks the tip of the triangle.


Now it gets just a wee bit tricky but certainly not difficult. Continuing this straight line into the south celestial pole which lays here, measure 15 degrees from alpha Muscae to find delta Octantis. This is where we need to be right now to look for the comet. We’re looking for a faint star yellow star(is faint in light pollution) named delta Octantis. In binoculars it’s quite obvious in the star field as as a bright, yellow star. Depending on your sky, you may have to (as I do) let your eyes dark adapt for 10mins or so and stare out that area and it should pop out.


If you’re using binoculars, line up the bridge of the binocular onto delta Octantis. Bring your eyes to the binocular and you should have the star within view.


Now slowly cruise a bit down and to the right. Today (5th Feb) it’s sitting 3 degrees away from delta Octantis, on the 7th Feb. It will be 7 degrees away from it, just to give you an idea of how fast it’s moving. As long as you follow that straight line in the following days and perhaps note the star field or asterisms to jog your memory, you’ll have a good idea where to keep looking for it.


On the 10th Feb. It’ll be sitting right next to (within one deg) of beta Octantis, which is the star bottom right of the triangle. See what I mean about following that straight line?


What will it look like? Through binoculars it looks very much like a globular cluster. It’s very apparent, and it will look like a hazy ball. No tail is visible at the moment thru binoculars and perhaps unlikely through a small scope either, but it’s sheer size will still give you that awe factor. No, you won’t see the green colour (photographs show colour), instead it will appear greyish. Using averted vision, you will see the comet brighter and larger. This is done by putting the object to the right of the centre of your binocular, looking slightly down your nose, while looking out of the corner of your eye (this area of the eye is more light sensitive in the dark).


On the 15th Feb, it will come within 3 degrees of the spectacular globular cluster 47Tuc (aka 47 Tucanae/aka NGC 104). This is the second largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky. So keep following that straight line for this meeting. Ensure your observing times allow you a good horizon as it’ll be sitting fairly low then. In binoculars you should be able to get both the comet and this globular cluster within the same field of view. And if you’ve got a camera and a tripod with a lens suitable to capture it, it should make for some awesome pics.



A fun project to do with this comet.

It’s moving very fast, so it can be a lot of fun to sketch the star field as it traverses the stars. If you monitor it for even only 30 minutes, you will be amazed at how far it’s moved! Keep a log of your sketches, it’ll be fun looking back at them in time to come and you have the memories of viewing a comet that’s coming our way and hopefully make naked eye visibility around March 26th with hopefully a nice tail on show. This comet is getting brighter and brighter as its coming towards us!

Just to give you an idea, here is a sketch I did on Comet Lemmon on Sunday 3/2/2013. Pay no attention of what I've written next to "size" on the form... the next word was "big" :ashamed: :lol:.

132000


Here are my observations using different instruments to give you an idea of what to expect.

I’ve observed this comet across three different instruments and each provide excellent views of it. My 10x60 binos show it as a fuzzy round patch, similar in view of a globular cluster seen thru them.
My 4” scope now makes this object brighter and larger- a good size in an eyepiece, still a fuzzy round patch but quite remarkable all the same.
My 10” dob shows it up brighter and larger again with a very bright disc in the centre. It’s almost like I could see the rock in the centre with the sun shining off it, but a comet nucleus isn’t evident in instruments are size (that’s for NASA).The tail wasn’t evident, but next time I will look a bit harder as I wasn’t really looking for it at the time. This comet is about the size of a globular cluster at low magnification in a scope, too me it looked like a GC pulverised leaving just gas and dust!

Good luck, clear skies and have fun everyone! :D


P.S. Another chart here.
http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=C%2F2012%20F6&lat=-27.571&lng=152.987&loc=Archerfield&alt=0&tz=UCTm10

[Astroman]

Nice Article SUzy. I hope people do get to look at it also.

[astroron]

Even I could find it with all that info Suzy;)
Good article :thumbsup:
Cheers

[MortonH]

Two nights ago I checked its position on SkySafari but couldn't find it in the sky. Then last night I realised I SkySafari was set to the wrong date! :screwy:

So I finally got a look last night with my 80mm refractor. Hoping to get a bigger scope on it this weekend.

[Shark Bait]

That's a great write up Suzy. :thumbsup:

I'd like to jump in with some more screen grabs from Starry Night. Ignore the tail, it is the default setting in Starry Night. This is Comet Lemmon's position for tonight, 6th Feb 2013 at 2100hrs EST (1100 hrs UT).

Every clear night I have been out tracking this comet with my trusty 7x50 binos. It is moving quickly.

[Suzy]

Stu: Yaaaaay, go for it & please keep those screen grab updates coming, thank you! :D I tried at first to do it myself off my sky programme but major fail urrrgh! :rolleyes:

[mithrandir]

Suzy, this is what CdC gives for the next 12 days. FOV is 74 degrees.
132021
The grey area at the bottom is my horizon line.

[Suzy]

Andrew, that's a great map, I love the tracking line- thank you so much!
All these maps from you and Stu are going to be so helpful for people, you guys are just the best.
I will be linking this thread onto the IIS facebook page as I sense some people on there are keen to see it but don't know how to go about it. So it's not just helping the people on here, we will be able to reach and help a lot of people. I couldn't go to sleep at night (well I can now I've done this! lol) unless I'd done what I could to give everyone a fair go at seeing this comet come our way. You guys have done good (as usual I might add!). :thumbsup:

Ron, I'm so glad my information helped you. Smarty. :P :lol:

[glenc]

Thanks Suzy. I saw Comet Lemmon this morning with 20x80s through a hole in the clouds.

[engavo]

Thanks Suzy, now all i need is a clear night sky, crossing my fingers :D

[Shark Bait]

For those who are new, I hope you have clear skies and can bag your first comet. As mentioned in my last post, ignore the tail. It is a default setting in Starry Night. Mitrandir's map (post #7) will cover the position of this comet over the next few days. Happy hunting.

Suzy, I am not into facebook but have had a look at the IIS public page and I love your work. :thumbsup:

[UniPol]

I have found the Sky X maps quite good and have attached a JPG image from the program. It would have been better to attach a PDF copy because you can zoom in or out to show excellent detail. The best PDF file size I could manage is 540K, 40K over the IIS limit. If someone knows how to reduce the size of a PDF file please let me know

[Shark Bait]

Ignore the default tail shown in the Starry Night.

[Lismore Bloke]

Hi Steve,

If you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat, under Advanced is a tool called PDF Optimizer. It should allow you to downsample the pdf and thereby reduce it's size.

Cheers, Paul.

[UniPol]

Thanks Paul, yes, I have the full Acrobat version and downsampling worked a treat, looks like I'll have to read the user manual to get the most out it. I have attached a chart for tonight which hopefully may be useful to some members.

[glenc]

Comet Lemmon's tail is definitely visible in 20x80 binoculars.
I suspected it last night and the night before, tonight it is obvious.

[Filby]

Thanks guys! Thanks to your descriptions and maps my wife and I saw our first comet.
It was clear in our 10x30 binoculars as a fuzzy circle.
Star hopping we went from Beta hydrus, which was the nearest naked eye star where we were. Then in the binoculars moved to the left to three stars gamma-octans. Put these 3 stars at 2 o'clock and the comet was at 7 o'clock.
Cool.

[gregbradley]

Thanks very much for doing this Stu. I found it each time straight away thanks to your clear post.

Greg.

[mithrandir]

Steve, TheSky6 gave me this on Win7 using the PDF printer - without any compression needed.

[Shark Bait]

It turns out that Starry Night's tail length is close to what is showing up in astro images. Amateurs with larger scopes and dark skies are reporting that they can make out a faint tail and a hint of colour. Amateurs with bino's are not seeing a tail yet, instead it looks a little like a diffuse globular cluster with a bright core.

As Suzy has been encouraging beginners to do; if you are new to Astronomy get out there and bag your first comet. :thumbsup:

Edit: Dodgy spelling :rolleyes:, but i've already being quoted. :doh:grama, grammer, grammar.....

[Shark Bait]

If your an early riser and your skies are clear, you might be able to catch three comets. Comets Lemmon (C/2012 F6), Panstarrs (C/2011 L4) and if your scope is large enough, Linear (C/2011 F1).

You will have to be quick, as morning twilight will start to wash out the faint objects around 0415 hrs EST (1815 hrs UT).

[Astro_Bot]

Tried last night but saw nothing where Stellarium (with comet data downloaded) said it should be - using a 10" SCT. However, nearly a degree away in Dec, and with pretty similar RA, I saw an unidentified "diffuse' object with bright core, but no distinguishable tail. Colour seemed about right going by people's images.

Does anyone know if Stellarium's data is accurate?

Tonight (sky permitting) I'll try using Stu's chart.

[Astro_Bot]

Well, I'll answer my own question.

I rolled Stellarium forward to 09-02-2013 2030 EST and lo-and-behold, it put Lemon in a different location compared to Starry Night: similar RA but out by ~45' in Dec - Stellarium puts Lemon almost on top of HIP 112911, but Stu's chart from Starry Night puts it half way between HIP 112911 and Beta Octans.

Time and timezone are correct, so that's not it.

[Shark Bait]

I can't comment on Stellarium, even though it is loaded on my machine. I find Starry Night easier to use. For what it's worth, I can vouch for Starry Night's accuracy in this case. Every clear night, I have relied on SN to find Lemmon in my light polluted urban location and it has been spot on.

Starry Night is not always right. It is not accurate when dealing with predicted positions for NEO Asteroid 2012 DA14. It goes against their own policy of not adding NEO's to their database, but this time they did and users who trust it will miss out on seeing this asteroid. It's the only time that Starry Night has been left wanting. Instead I am using the data from JPL for my location and have plotted it onto a paper star chart.

[Suzy]

Stu, thanks for the updates, you're doing a brilliant job! :)
I find Starry Nights easier to use than Stellarium too and their comets have seemed spot on so far.


Thank you :D

Glen, tail visible now in binoculars hey? I'll look extra hard for it, tho I don't know if it'll show up in 10x60's and light pollution.

[John0z]

Hi, I took photos of the comet last night with a 300mm lens. I just compared the starfield in Stellarium to the same actual time of the photo and the position matches very closely with the surrounding stars.

[mithrandir]

RG, CdC with the latest elements puts C/2012 F6 half way between HD215587 (HIP112911) and HD214846 (HIP112405, Beta Oct) at that time. Stellarium does too.
When did you last update the solar system data?

[erick]

Thanks Suzy, with your guidance, I just picked it up in 12x60s last Thursday night around midnight. Bit of a challenge since I was looking through kms of Sydney light pollution including the entire CBD! :rolleyes:

[Astro_Bot]

Friday arvo - fresh download from the Minor Planet Centre - for use that evening.

Edit: Just updated again, with overwrite enabled, and saw C/2012 F6 jump significantly toward Beta Octans. Was I being naive in thinking that Solar System (Comet, Asteroid) data contains velocity data? That is, it's not just a single static point that's only updated for Earth's rotation? They wouldn't do that, would they?

[glenc]

The tail on Comet Lemmon was about 1.5 degrees long at 3am DST (16 UT) this morning.
I looked at it with a 102mm refractor and a 9mm EP (55x).

[Shark Bait]

Some more star charts for tonight.

If you are new to Astronomy, it might be easier to locate globular cluster 47 Tucanae and move your bino's / scope until you pick up star Beta Octantis.

If you are observing using bino's from light polluted skies, ignore the tail. It will look like a smaller version of 47 Tuc.

[Astro_Bot]

I updated MPC comet data again a few minutes ago and again watched Lemmon jump, but not as much as last night. Either the MPC data is a bit out and needs constant updates to correct errors, or the way Stellarium uses the data allows errors to creep into the system quite quickly. I watched the comet move in a ~100x timelapse and it moved smoothly relative to the star background.

Anyway, with a fresh comet data update and rolling time forward to 2030 this evening, Stellarium now agrees closely with Starry Night. Thanks to those offering advice and feedback, and thanks, Stu, for those charts.


(PS: I'm using Stellarium 0.11.3 in Linux - 0.11.4 isn't compiled for my distro yet).

[Suzy]

Here's a great binocular map, thanks to Ian Musgrave who posted it on facebook from his Astro Blog site today. He also writes the Southern Sky Watch (http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm)page and is also part of this forum. Lol it's a shameless plug for a brilliant astronomy event page!


BINOCULAR MAP FOR COMET LEMMON.

(http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/feb_f6a.pdf)

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[mithrandir]

Stu, you can get SN to draw the orbit, or at least my version will. That makes comets and asteroids easier to spot.

[Rob_K]

The orbit line's not much good as a predictive tool in Starry Night because (naturally) it doesn't take account of precession - ie while the orbit is fixed, the background stars appear to shift in position night-to-night (see attached).

Cheers -

[Shark Bait]

Starry Night Enthusiast v6.4.3 does not provide an option to support viewing of multiple comet locations over a set period of time. Maybe they will provide this option when they release v7.


I really like Starry Night, but I now have two items that could be improved when they release their next major upgrade:
Accurate handling of NEO orbital elements (eg Asteroid 2012 DA14)
The ability to do what your planetarium software does for object positions over multiple days.

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

I hope your skies are clearer than those in Brisbane.

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[Suzy]

Thanks for keeping the charts coming Stu :thumbsup:

It's now only 4 degrees away from spectacular globular cluster 47Tuc. This is the second largest and brightest GC in our skies (Omega Centauri being the first).

Now's the time to really get those binos out and start looking- you should be able to get both objects within the same field of view thru binoculars, if not, tomorrow night the comet will come even closer at 3 degrees to 47Tuc. It will then go back to 4 degrees the following night. You don't want to miss this gorgeous view!


A WORD OF CAUTION:
As these two objects are so close together, it can be very easy to confuse the globular cluster for the comet through binoculars, . The comet will be to the left of the GC and not as bright- the GC will show a brighter core.

Happy viewing everyone- go get it!

[Shark Bait]

No worries Suzy. Here are the charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3 :thumbsup: I caught Lemmon between the clouds in my 7x50's last night. It was a pleasant view with 47 Tuc in the same field of view.

Tonight it will be just over 3 degrees away from 47 Tuc. I hope you have clear skies. Brisbane is not looking promising for viewing this object or NEO Asteroid 2012 DA14 tonight.

[mental4astro]

Great thread, Suzy!

Thought I'd add my two sketches from tonight's close encounter done from my home in Sydney.

The first is of Lemmon using my 8" dob and my 10mm XW giving 80X. I could make out its tail a lot easier than my first viewing of it close to two weeks ago.

The second sketch is a wide field sketch using my 80mm f/5 refractor at 11X with a 36mm Aspheric Hyperion. The field of view here is a tick over the 6 degrees this scope/EP combo gives. Here I've not only managed to fit Lemmon and 47Tuc, but also the smaller globular NGC 362. The SMC alas is overwhelmed by the light pollution of Sydney to be seen. YET, I was still able to catch a glimpse of Lemmon's tail! This really surprised me, but it shows the advantage of a small aperture can have in a light polluted enviroment where the back ground sky glow isn't as intense. I couldn't see the tail in the 8" using low power because of the background sky glow.

I'll do a more detailed write up of the sketches in the Obs Forum sketching sticky.

Mental.

[RB]

You amaze me Alex !

RB

[Suzy]

Alex those are awesome sketches!
And thanks for your report- both are a fabulous contribution on here. :)

I haven't been able to see the tail yet as cloud has ruined those chances these past few days, but I've been able to throw binos on it between quick gaps. Hubby & I could see there was some sort of colour thru the binos. It didn't look the typical grey that a view normally is, I don't know quite how to describe it but I'd lean towards a dark bluey/grey (just! if you looked hard enough). I could see a teeny elongation a week ago (observing thru my 10" dob) so next time I'll have to try looking harder for a tail as hopefully it'll be a bit brighter then when next I observe it.

[GraemeT]

A group of us (SNAG) got together last night to find Lemmon, visually, with prime focus photography and guided tracking. We were all struck by the apparent greenish colour. Perhaps it should be called Comet Lime!

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

Lemmon will be just over 3.5 degrees from 47 Tuc.

Looks like another cloudy evening for Brisbane. I hope conditions are better from your location.

[niko]

Great charts Stu

how are you getting Starry Night to display Lemmon? I have 6.3.9 but it doesn't appear to have this coment in the database.

many thanks

niko

[Shark Bait]

In the toolbar menu of SN v6.4.3, I click on LiveSky and I then have the option of forcing an update using Update Data Files. Under LiveSky, I also have the option altering the Preferences for Auto Updates.

I then use the flyout menu to access Find and type Lemmon into search. All objects with Lemmon appear and I select Lemmon (C/2012 F6) and check both boxes. This will centre the comet on the screen with a label.

Hope this helps Niko. Is it possible for you to upgrade to v6.4.3 ?

When I purchased my copy of Starry Night Enthusiast it was v6.3 and the upgrade was done over the net for free via Simulation Curriculum.

[niko]

thanks Stu

I updated to 6.4 and got the new prefs but still doesn't want to show it - anyway, can find it with your very useful info

strange though...

cheers

niko

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

Niko, did you have any luck getting lemmon to show up in Starry Night after the v6.4.3 update?

[Scopie]

Thanks to all who posted the how-to's I found it :)

Looks much like a fainter version of 47-Tuc in my 16 inch dob. Very, very nice!

Quite a bit larger than I expected, but then again its my first comet!

[mental4astro]

Stu, a big thank you to you too, mate! The maps you posted on the 15th made it very easy to locate Lemmon. Knowing where the SMC is, it was just a matter of dropping my finder, and BINGO - there it was. No charts, no smart phone. Just knowing where to look. Couldn't get easier, :D

Cheers,

Mental.

[Rob_K]

Impossible. Don't you need GOTO, Stellarium etc etc? :D

Cheers -

[Shark Bait]

Thanks Mental. I saw your last sketch of Lemmon - top shelf. I'd upload my efforts but they are rubbish. I blame the poor seeing. ;)



Just channel Yoda and use the Force you must. :)

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[Shark Bait]

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[Suzy]

Thanks Stu, your screen grab came in really handy tonight- had a quick session with my 10x60 binoculars between clouds so I was able to quickly get out there using this map rather than getting into my sky programme, for a look-see after a week of cloud/rain.
Not surprisingly, the comet was affected by the surrounding cloud- very dim (grrr was hoping to find a wee bit of tail), but still awesome to see it nevertheless.

So easy to find now using 47Tuc as the stepping stone- was about 2 bino views diagnonally down from it. Okay, just checked my sky programme, it's 8 degrees so was a good rough guess hehe. For people wanting to know how to measure that, it's about the size of a clenched fist, see "how to measure the sky in degrees in my original post).

[Hexaje]

Thanks for the guide and charts, I was quite easily able to find Lemmon on the 17th. My family was very impressed with the green hue. :)

[niko]

thanks again Stu - the charts are terrific!

Yeah, I rebooted the PC and all was updated perfectly!
Der!!

[fungussface]

I hope to get a view if the clouds ever clear for long enough for me to see.
How long will it be visible?
Some great shots.
Thanks

Colin

[Shark Bait]

More charts will be uploaded shortly. If the weather is kind you might be able to bag this comet tonight. I will have to look into how long this comet is expected to be visible for.

[Shark Bait]

Position 23rd Feb 2013, 2030 hrs EST (1030 hrs UT)

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[callingrohit]

Thanks Stu for posting these maps and thanks Suzy for the "How To ?".

I have been just trying almost every night & mid night and zombie time to catch a glimpse of the comet but just don't have any luck.

Wish I had the power of Superman to either fly above the clouds or atleast bloody blow them away...how annoying are the clouds ?

The sunshine state should be renamed to be the cloudy state !!!!

I'm just very very disappointed however I'm not gonna stop going out to see the comet every night ...midnight....and zombie time....

[Shark Bait]

Going by the conditions locally, I suspect that last night might have been a lost cause for you as well. The forecast does not look promising over the next few days either.

[Shark Bait]

Position 24th Feb 2013, 2030 hrs EST (1030 hrs UT)

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

[callingrohit]

Hi Stu,

I have stopped checking the forecast. Today the entire day was nice and sunny....evening clouds rolled in....

love the cloudy state

[gaa_ian]

Woke up early..... OK, Maybe I can see the comets & ......Checked finder charts ....Doh !!!
Maybe if I lived in Tassie, Vic or SA :-(
Oh well, IF the clouds stay away tomorrow night, I should be able to see Lemmon, up between Grus and Phoenix

[Mariposa]

unfortunately the "how to" post doesn't cover "how to ge rid of the clouds"...my only option is to keep waiting patiently and hope for clear skies.

[mrtonytj]

Hi all,

I am having a reasonably serious problem..

I finally found lemmon about a week ago due to 3 things..
Help from you guys,
Help from one of you in particular that sent me charts,
AND getting Starry Nights Pro Plus 6.

The last was the key to finding it.
I upgraded from 6.0.0 to 6.0.3 immediately then got the in app update for the commet orbits etc.

Then today i got the next two upgrades to update it completely.
After the first bigger update 6.3.3 everything was fine. Then i updated to the latest 6,4,3 and everything stopped working. So i uninstalled and reinstalled just upto 6.3.3 again and am now trying to download the in app update again and the program just keeps stalling??

Has anyone encountered this??? And more importantly can anyone help?!!

Thanks!

[Suzy]

Tony, I know Stu has got Starry Nights software so he may be able to help you (I have too but I can't help), but I think perhaps that you may get a better response if you moved this post into the computers/software forum. Copy & paste this post in there and then delete this one. But just wait a bit for Stu or someone else to help you out maybe (or message Stu).

[mrtonytj]

Hi Suzy,

Yeah I am already in discussions with him. :-)

Thanks.

[Shark Bait]

Hi Tony,

It's been a week or so since I last posted in this thread. To get you going the attached screen grabs from Starry Night should provide a temporary solution.

This image is for your location, 6th March at 1000 hrs UT. You will have to adjust this to suit your local time.

Are you still on DST?

We tend to ignore DST in QLD. More images to follow in another post.

[Shark Bait]

Position for tonight, 6th March 2013, 1100 hrs UT

Charts for tonight taken from Starry Night v6.4.3

Tony,

As with the last post these exported simulated images are set for your location. You will need to adjust UT to your local time.

I hope you get clear skies so that you can track down these comets.

I am at a loss to explain why you are having problems with your Starry Night updates. Another IIS'er was having trouble getting his updates to show the recent NEO asteroid. After getting out and restarting the program it worked. Your problems sound a lot harder to sort out. I have not expierenced any difficulties with the updates at this end.

[Wavytone]

Well I'm at Mt Blackheath 2h west of Sydney waiting for it to get dark.

The photo on APOD this morning indicates its possible to capture both comets in a single frame, which is what I'm hoping to do. One naked-eye comet is rare enough but two at once and in the same frame using a normal camera is a once-in-a-lifetime shot, I think.

So far it's blisteringly clear to the west with a few high clouds just to make a pretty sunset. Fingers crossed after all the crap weather we've had for the past month.

[Shark Bait]

Tony,

Simulation Curriculum have decent online help for Starry Night available here:

https://support.simulationcurriculum.com/home?page=2

What operating system are you using?

Hopefully you will get some answers.

Regards,
Stu.

[mrtonytj]

Thanks Stu,

Those screenshots help heaps.

I am trying a few other avenues but in the meantime i think i may just have to put up with having 6.0.3

[Suzy]

Stu, would you please be able to do a screen grab showing Achemar drawn with line of degrees between it and Lemmon?

But keep the current screen grabs you've got- their great!

I think right now, the star Achemar located directly SW is going to be a better reference point (as it's a nice bright star) as comet Lemmon sits right below it at 18 degrees.


Comet Panstarrs is also sitting very close by:

Locate the bright yellow-ish star, deneb Kaitos (between SW & W). Panstarrs sits only 8 degrees below it- voila!

OR! If your further south than me here in Brisbane, i.e. Victoria: locate the very bright star Fomalhaut as it's still on your horizon. Panstarrs sits 21 degrees to the right of it. That's one hand span held at arms length with one eye closed.
And Lemmon sits smacks in the middle of Achemar and Fomalhaut.

Start looking for these comets straight after sunset.

Sorry Stu, I haven't been able to add to your Panstarrs thread- I haven't seen this comet at all due to so much rain here in Brisbane and it was only today, determined to pursue it with a weeny gap in the sky was I able to make some calculations visually where it should sit. That's all I saw- where it should sit >:( grrrrrr So much easier (for me anyway) to comment if I've been able to eyeball these visually to give a better overall guide on top of maps alone.