Comet to Cross the SMC

[glenc]

Comet Siding Spring will cross the SMC Aug 28 to 30.
The attached Guide 9 map shows its path and location at 11pm AEST.
The map has the zenith at the top of the page at 11pm.
The mag 8 comet will be 40' from 47 Tuc (NGC 104) on Aug 30.
Its distance is 8 light minutes away, much closer than the SMC which is 200,000 light years away.

[glend]

Thanks for heads up Glen, I hope I get the chance to see it. The clouds and rain have stopped all astro activity around here for weeks.:eyepop:

[Pinwheel]

Any idea if a tail will be present?

[glenc]

Roger has images of the small tail here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=124923&highlight=siding+spring

[cometcatcher]

Probably be more like Magnitude 9.

[ZeroID]

Our weather prediction for the next week or so is clouds with rain included at no extra cost .... :sadeyes:

I'll be in the workshop ..... :rolleyes:

[cometcatcher]

Visually, I think it may become lost in all the stars of the SMC, at least with a small scope. I find 2013 A1 to be a tricky object in a 4 inch refractor. When it gets near a star I lose it.

[PeterEde]

I can't even find the SMC yet. How can I get 47Turcanae and not see the SMC?

[Pinwheel]

Clear sky's & good seeing last night & I'm pretty sure I found it. It wasn't what I expected, looked like a very small fuzzy orb & no tail not yet anyway. :thumbsup: Also 47 Tuc was a stunning sight too!

[Sconesbie]

Will we see it in Tas?

[Paddy]

Thanks Glen, what a treat!

[pluto]

Surely being so far south, if the weather is good, you'll have the best view in Australia :D

[Tinderboxsky]

The SMC is above 60 degree elevation when viewed from Tassie at 9.00 pm at the moment. So, excellent viewing from anywhere in Tassie for this event.

Cheers

Steve.

[byronpaul]

Observed this comet last Friday night from a rural site with good to very good seeing and transperancy. Quite obvious in the 18" SDM used but little tail present. Use of a Swan Filter brought out more detail and made the comet stand out from the background sky. I've only seen a couple of comets visually so I'm no expect, but I would have guessed the target was a small planetary nebula if I didn't know it was a comet :P

Observed the comet again last night from my suburban back yard. Seeing was really good but transparency was poor with lots of moisture in the air and light polution abound. Anyway, Argo Navis put the comet in the FOV of the 13mm Nagler used in 18" at 182x magnification. Use of a Swan Filter made the comet more noticeable, but less detail seen than the Friday evening observation.

A quick goto 47Tuc and WOW :eyepop:

Paul

[jjjnettie]

Well SEQ has been cursed with rain. :( Mark Bateman took delivery of a AP mount and H. has some filters due for delivery. We have virtually no hope of catching this event unless we travel. Nice one guys, you just don't think.

[cometcatcher]

Just don't send the weather here up north eh? ;)

[gaa_ian]

Thanks Glen
A great tip off, if only I had more than my little 80mm spotting scope I travel with I would have a crack at this one ! Is this comet destined to brighten or fade ? I will be home in a week with the 10" dob, might be worth a look then.

[cometcatcher]

Latest obs put it at mag 10.3. It will not likely exceed mag 9 at brightest.

1 minute image from last nigh with comparison stars.

[cometcatcher]

Here it comes...

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one, that be faint.

For those with rain - please keep it except for central coast NSW :lol:

[Pinwheel]

I doubt our city dwellers with smaller aperture telescope will get a shot at this one.

[Suzy]

Yes, as Kevin said, the comet is more around the mag. 10 mark. See here in the comet observers data base:
http://cobs.si/recent

Liz nabbed it last weekend through her Celestron 8" from a dark site, this is what she said in her obs in our comet groups on facebook. I hope you don't mind Liz! :
"Next was to wait for A1 to rise a bit higher, and there it was in my EP. Still faint and easier with averted vision, but much clearer in the 12" Dob as a small fuzzy."

If the weather is clear tonight, I hope to go after it- will be through light pollution using my 10" dob. The bright GC may significantly overwhelm the comet so it's a good idea to pop the GC out of the field of view of the eyepiece. I hope I don't have to- that's the beauty of seeing them both together :rolleyes: .

Glen, I hope you don't mind, I used your map for my post today on our facebook page. And the bit about the distance of comet and SMC- that was a cool comparison. :D

Btw Kevin, that's a really gorgeous pic! I look forward to seeing more as it moves closer.

[astroron]

Very Nice Kevin.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Suzy]

When looking through the telescope in that area around 47Tuc, you are in the SMC galaxy. All those little fuzzy knots of stuff are part of the galaxy. From a dark site, both the LMC and SMC galaxies are huge objects in the sky.

This is how I find 47Tuc easily:
Find the bright star beta in Hydrus (it's easy- it forms the base of the triangle).
Then hold out 3 fingers horizontally (close in thumb & pinky) at arms length with one eye closed at Beta. This is about where it should be (it's only 4 degrees away-about the size of that hand measurement- and a bit to the right). It's easily visible in binoculars or thru the scope's finder.

[barx1963]

Got it tonight. The comet and NGC 362 fit nicely into the 50' field of my 21mm Ethos. It is surprisingly faint at this stage, mind you it is fairly low still and the LP is worst for me in that direction. Couldn't manage it in my 8" but may try later if still clear.

Malcolm

[AstroJunk]

Great image Kevin. And for those that don't know, it will be ploughing through that globular cluster at between 1:15 and 3:15 tomorrow morning ie a few hours time!

Not sure if it is bright enough to make an interesting image during the transit, but there could be some great approach shots...

[Paddy]

Just been out having a look with the 16" dob. A great sight, only 15' from NGC 362, at least a 6' long wedge shaped tail to the east, a bit brighter on the northern edge and a distinct nucleus.

[barx1963]

Nice one Paddy!
I tracked it a bit tonight. At about 8-30 it was maybe 20' away from NGC362 but had closed to nearly 10' by 12-30am. Makes a really nice pairing. The tail is just visible with a Lumicon deep sky filter to help damp out the LP to the south of here. I would have picked the tail as pointing north though?

Malcolm

[Rob_K]

Fantastic work guys, no surprise that you two were on the job with this one! The comet's quite faint in my scope and I was REALLY pushed for time last night so opted for photography. Yeah, I know it's a cop-out but I have been following the comet visually as well, honest! :P ;)

Cheers -

[bobbyf]

I saw it visually with a 10" Newt (albeit very faint and it took me a while with all the LP) but then i put the DSLR on and snapped about 500 images as it transited through NGC362. Aiming to put them together in a timelapse video. It was pretty cool to see it moving as you scroll through the images on the back of the camera
Cheers

Bob

[algwat]

Eon 80mm from light poluted melbourne west, at sea level.

If clouds burn off, try for a view between SMC an 47Tuc.

regards, Alan

[glenc]

You are welcome Suzy. I have just been in hospital for 3 nights, am out now and hope to see the comet tonight.
Ian the comet will go to mag 7.7 then get fainter again.

[glenc]

The comet transits at about 2am tonight, 1.47 degrees or 88 arc minutes to the left of 47 Tuc. You need dark skies to see it at mag 9 or 10.
Thanks for the images and magnitudes Kevin and Alan.

[Paddy]

I think we're both right as the tail seems very wide - more like a 90 degree wedge with one side heading NE and the other SE. The brighter edge is the NE one. To me it doesn't look like 2 distinct tails at this stage. This was what I thought I saw last night and was just out looking again and looks the same.

[barx1963]

Paddy
Yeah that seems about right from the images. I am about to head out and give it another go.

Malcolm

[rustigsmed]

With Clear skies was about to turn the scope over for a peek went inside grabbed a cuppa as it was getting cold came out full fog out ...
It's been doing that all week here I guess and usually a bit earlier oh well saw it near ngc 362 yesterday. Looking forward to some pics.

[glenc]

I saw the comet with 20x80 binoculars a couple of times last night.
The tail is about 6' long in a 16" scope.

[Tinderboxsky]

Managed to get my first clear sighting of comet Siding Springs tonight using a 140mm refractor. The weather and other commitments had conspired against me up till now.
The comet was a distinct hazy spot with a just visible broad fan like tail. It's motion was clearly visible when returning to view it 90 minutess later.
Seeing was 4 out of 5 and transparency varied between 5 & 6 out of 7. The best viewing was at 114X. The wider field view at 40X was quite memorable with 47 Tuc and the surrounding star fields against a dark background nicely framing the comet.

Cheers

Steve.

[gaa_ian]

That was a great pickup with a 140mm Refractor Steve. I was thinking a much larger scope was needed to see this comet. I will certainly be looking for this comet once i get my hands back on a scope again !

[ZeroID]

Clouds, rain for the past week and forecast for the next week .. this is not a happening thing for me. Keep posting pix guys cos that is probably all I am going to see.

[Rob_K]

Saw C/2013 A1 and 47 Tuc in the same FOV last night in cracker skies, great view with the tiny dim comet and the extravagance of the cluster. 4.5" f8 Tasco reflector and 21mm eyepiece, 43x. Movement was quite noticeable over the time of viewing. Short fan-shaped elongation to the north (dust tail) visible and star-like central condensation could be seen in moments of good seeing.

Cheers -

[The_bluester]

God a nice view of it last night from outside Kilmore with the C9.25

I was a little unsure at first but after ten minutes it had visibly moved against the stars so it was pretty certain. Just a hint of elongation with averted vision. Looked to be much more initially but it was crossing in front of a DSO which suckered me.

Pretty sad to say that the last comet I saw with my own eyeballs was Halleys!

[Pinwheel]

I'm a little disappointed with this one! Does anyone know where it's ultimately going, will it get closer making it a better viewing target? Hale Bop it's not...

[cometcatcher]

Sorry, you made me lol. :lol: But you're right, it's small, faint and... well... probably not going to get much brighter.

Have a go at 2013 V5 Oukaimeden below Orion in the pre-dawn sky. It's waaay brighter. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=125573

[glenc]

Thanks to Kevin for this page.
http://theskylive.com/c2013a1-info

"But this comet (Siding Spring) is particularly interesting because of its flyby of Mars happening on October 19, 2014. The most recent computations exclude an initially hypnotized impact with the Red Planed and predict that the nucleus of C/2013 A1 (about 0.7 kilometers of diameter) will pass at a distance of 131,646 kilometers at 18:33 Universal Time. The view from Mars will be magnificent, with the comet potentially shining of magnitude -6. "

Can the Mars rovers send us a pic?

[loKy]

Hello!!

Any chances to pinpoint C2013 A1 with a 8 inch dob?

...I have 2 hours of experience observing the night sky:eyepop:
.....but I also have a plan:lol:

[gaa_ian]

Comet is predicted to be Mag 10 today, which is within easy reach of your 8" Dob !

[astroron]

Simon, It is a hard job to spot A1 Siding Spring with an 8" scope, I know
as I tried last Saturday, at Mag 11.1 and dimming it small and faint.
It will be closer to Mars in the next few days so it may be a bit easier to find,but unless you have a dark sky it will be nearly impossible.
I have a dark sky site near Kenilworth and have an astro night every month nearest to New Moon, the next one being the 25 this month, you are welcome too attend,see this page for details http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=8808
Scroll down for a map and details of how to get here.
BTW :welcome: iceinspace. :)
Cheers:thumbsup:

[gaa_ian]

OK .. I think Ron has it there with the comet being Mag 11.1 that is 1/2 as bright !

[tonybarry]

Heavens-above lists C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as being magnitude 15.1 - well beyond the reach of anything visual amateur. A camera and a good dose of time might be more successful.

Regards,
Tony Barry
WSAAG

[loKy]

Ye I got no chances,but thank you Astroron for the invitation,i had already looked at Cambroon location,,,,mmmhhhhh is not that far after all from Glasshouse,but I am a bit shy,,,,ahahahahaaaaaa.

And yes there must be fantastic dark skyes around Kenilworth,,,jelous

[astroron]

Tony Heavens above is way out of line,it is no where near 15.1.
As I have said I have observed in both 8"and 16" scopes and only needs a dark sky for scopes over 8" to observe,even though you won't see that much.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

From my images tonight I make it "around" mag 11 roughly. While there are visual obs of it in an 8", it's tough going even from a dark sky site.

[weathermon]

Hey Kevin,

I'm prob gonna head out west tonight around Moranbah - what sort of exposure times would I be looking at with the 0.85x reducer? I know I only got a window of a bit over an hour too which sucks.

[Rob_K]

Last night at the club meet at Porepunkah airfield, C/2013 A1 was visible in a 4.5" f8 reflector at 43x in absolute cracker skies, albeit very faintly and in averted vision. Not the hardest comet I've tracked down but not an easy one either. Movement was followed over about an hour and a half, quite substantial. Views were better in one of the member's 8" f10 SCT using a 25mm eyepiece. Quite clear, could be held in direct vision and movement was followed.

Once again, it's not the scope but the skies! ;)

Cheers -

[Rob_K]

Got an image too - composite of shots on 16 & 17 October attached. Crossed arrows is the rendezvous on 19 Oct. Higher res here:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/C2013A116amp17Oct2014200mmtextsmall .jpg~original

Cheers -