Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring 5 days before it reaches Mars

[cometcatcher]

Nearly there! Just over 5 degrees and 5 days away now.

[Tinderboxsky]

Fabulous result. It is an interesting journey to follow.

Cheers

Steve.

[Draco]

nice work

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one Kevin :thumbsup: here's hoping the weather is good :)

[cometcatcher]

Yes it is Steve, thanks.



Thanks Niv.



The forecast is not good unfortunately. 70% chance of showers. :( I was hoping for a clear run for at least an hour. I won't get much in 30 seconds.

[cometcatcher]

3 days to Mars..

[cometcatcher]

2 days to Mars.

[Tinderboxsky]

Another excellent catch.

I think I managed a visual observation at 9.30pm on Wednesday 15th after a careful star hop from Mars. I observed an extremely faint spot amongst an interesting asterism of 10 & 11 magnitude stars. I have been waiting for the next clear night to check if indeed I had observed the comet but to no avail. The clouds did clear last night but by then the area was below my western horizon.

Cheers

Steve.

[h0ughy]

nice work - looking forward to tonight's efforts

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Steve and Dave.

It's not easy to observe visually. About mag11 it needs a big scope.

[astronobob]

Good captures there :thumbsup: All the best for the upcoming event Kevin :thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

For those wishing to capture the closest approach, NASA's prediction is at 18:27:38 UTC.

I get 18:26:36 UTC, but then I don't have the advantage of the observations coming from the MRO to refine the data.

[cometcatcher]

Mostly cloudy here tonight.

We miss the absolute closest approach in Australia, but tomorrow night is the closest it gets for us.

[mithrandir]

It's always cloudy when something interesting is happening.

Yes we here in Oz miss closest approach, but IIS has followers all around the globe so some might be observing at the exact time, after allowing for the time it takes light to cover the distance.

Assuming he gets clear skies Gianluca Masi will be streaming it. http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/2014/10/09/comet-planet-comet-c2013-a1-siding-spring-meets-planet-mars-19-oct-2014-online-event/

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Andrew. Might have to watch it online.

Image from tonight with lots of cloud problems.

[kinetic]

Great progress reports Kevin!
High thin cloud conspired against me too last night.

Steve

[PeterEde]

Not looking good for tonight in Adelaide either

[astronobob]

Ive ran the event in Stellarium and looks like we will see Siding spring as close as approx 1/3 degree from mars at 7/8pm before the pair sink into the abyss, though following it on stellarium, closest approach is arround 2-3am aest, with only approx 1/4 deg seperation during closest approach for other parts of the world under night skies at the time. not much in it really - unfortunately, this 1/3 - 1/4 degree seperation will not allow for any super long f/lgths, which would have been interesting, not complaining tho, - only a meter or two at most, depending on which direction the tail is pointing, ie, towards mars or away ?
Clear shkies & all the best to all who image/observe :thumbsup:
looking on with interest,,,

[gaa_ian]

Thanks Kevin for the Photo for my Blog post (http://everythingastronomy.com/mars-siding-springs-comet-a-close-call/) on NightSkySecrets :-)

[cometcatcher]

You're welcome Ian.

Showers incoming according to the radar here so it doesn't look good. Closest separation of the comet and Mars from Mackay is about 19 arc minutes. WA is a bit closer but Australia misses out on the closest approach.

[gaa_ian]

I will give it a go tonight, even though i only have a 4" scope out here with me (Mag12 limiting Mag)