Church under the comet

[OzEclipse]

Drove the 160km(100mi) to Canberra last Monday night (Oct 21). This church is out in the country with no artificial lighting or light pollution. I timed my departure to be at this church at twilight & comet time.

As I pulled up, I saw a familiar face, long time work colleague and friend was there as well. Lance had enrolled in one of my astrophotography workshops earlier this year and we had come to this church on our field trip. He had now returned to the scene of the crime.

The comet remains visible to the naked eye with about 8 degrees of tail, 12 degrees in 15x70 binoculars. Coma/nucleus is about magnitude 4.5.

Joe

[Mickoid]

Fantastic! Well worth the long drive. Great result Joe. :thumbsup:

[Leo.G]

You always take the most beautiful shots Joe!

[leon]

Have to agree Joe, that is fantastic.

Leon

[gregbradley]

That’s a stunner Joe.

So the comet is visible in the south early evening?

Greg

[strongmanmike]

Yeah cool :) Has that book cover look to it :thumbsup:

Mike

[OzEclipse]

Hi Greg,

It's in Ophiuchus, just north of west. I imaged it again last night through thin cloud. It still has gas in the tank. Wasn't visible naked eye through the cloud but you could see it in binoculars and photographically. Still definitely worth imaging on a clear night! That's Beta Ophiuchi the the tail is streaming into.

Joe

[Leo.G]

Did you get that latest image from your locale in Young Joe?
I've tried to find it with the help of Stellarium, too many trees at home but I really should go up to the local lookout with camera and binoculars Today is so cloudy I won't bother but if we get a clear day tomorrow I may go for the drive, it's less than 10 minutes and north west isn't looking over the town lights from the lookout (I don't think).

[strongmanmike]

I fiiinally saw it last night, up at Eagleview, spotted it naked eye, took a bit of staring to finally find it, just a faint smudge/streak, no wonder I couldnt find it from the heart of Braddon Canberra, looking west over a light rail stop :lol:...looked nice in10x50's, like your photo Joe, but without the colour.

Didn't bother with a photo, just enjoying yours :)

Mike

[OzEclipse]

No, I was at Williamsdale, south of Canberra just west of Strongmanmike with a friend of mine on Saturday night. Spent last week in Canberra. Drove home late yesterday and took a couple more from Young region.

The comet was not visible to the naked eye. Conditions were reasonable. Usually a Bortle 1 area, no ambient light, clear cloudless skies, moderate transparency with a touch of smoke. Once astronomical twilight had ended, using the 10x42mm binoculars I could easily see 4 deg of tail. With the 15x70mm's I could see 7-8 deg of tail. No detailed structure visible in the tail. I visually estimated the comet head at Mv 6.0-6.5 with 15x70 binoculars.

The comet is currently just southwest of Beta Ophiuchi(Mv 2.75) which is easily visible to the naked eye.

Joe

[OzEclipse]

Thanks Mike.
You did well to see it naked eye. With a bit of smoke around I couldn't see it naked eye despite being in a dark location. I estimated the head was mag 6 or fainter with binoculars.

A friend couldn't see it from Shepherds Lookout (~ Bortle 5) with 30mm binoculars.

Joe

[N1]

Great captures Joe; particularly amazing are those last three :thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

I stared and stared including plenty of averted vison, concentrating on substantial patches, all around where I thought it would be and finally when the twilight was pretty much gone (but a brightening zodiacal light), I thought, ah huh, I think I see something there, lower left of those two stars, only then did I point the binos there and voila! there it was :thumbsup: hard to see for sure but fits with your brightness estimates. This has been the method I have used to confirm naked eye level of comets, or anything for that matter, in the past, ie find it first, then confirm with binos :thumbsup:

Mike

[OzEclipse]

Hi Mike,

Just to be clear, I wasn't doubting you, just praising the effort.

cheers

Joe

[strongmanmike]

Didn't think you were :love2: , just relaying how hard it is/was to see, in case others were trying to find it :thumbsup: But it is my usual approach if something is supposed to be naked eye, kinda confirms the reality of the naked eye label. My mate Attila and I do similar when we are looking for very faint galaxies and the like, at the limit of a scope, we both look first, say nothing while looking in the eyepiece and then compare notes on our perception of where any faint object is in the eyepiece, using clock face references or relative position to stars etc. ...actually, haven't had one of those sessions for a while now :(...must ring him! they really are lots of fun, especially under dark skies :)

Mike

[VK3EDW]

Great capture, the ‘seeing’ must have been wonderful.