A new comet [Archive]

fringe_dweller

10-01-2006, 05:55 PM

Ving, it may get as bright as mag 6+ ish in the morning sky in feb - who knows? comets are famous for being erratic - both ways. Moons gonna be a bit of a pain as usual anyway during best times maybe.
who's complaining about a comet drought? lol - we just had the bumper year in 2004 many records broken for me - i saw 4 different naked eye comets in one calendar year - and two different, simultaneous pairs of ne comets (dark sky) in one calendar year (same 4 comets) - amazing!! that hadnt been done for 50 years or so :)
try Michael Mattiazzo's site http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/ with charts and updates
yes comets are bit more of a challenge without goto than planets ect. arent they - hit that dim diffuse moving target :)
anyone widefield image the SMC and surrounds early dec? you may have a predicovery image of the Pojmanski - if your image goes deep enough that is, maybe 15-16th magish? - it went within a few degrees of the cloud. you would have to stretch contrast and enhance to hell tho i guess
Dave here's a sceenshot from SN of the view from adders at 11:30 pm (DST)
anyway good excuse to crack out the 25x100's and the 20x80's :-))))

Dave47tuc

10-01-2006, 06:29 PM

If you have Cartes du Ciel, under file menu run the online resources, then click on Comet elements. Click ok and do a update.
Make sure you save options in the preferences menu.
Go to the catalog and object parameters. and select comet 2006 A1.
You will have your finder chart. :)

Hope it becomes a good one.

davidpretorius

10-01-2006, 06:36 PM

thanks guys.

happy one year anniversary on IIS dave!!!

Astroman

10-01-2006, 06:40 PM

might give the new scope mount a go with this one, unless I have an eq6 by then, which I doubt lol. be interesting to see the drift correction working

davidpretorius

10-01-2006, 06:41 PM

can we see it at the moment in my 10"?

Astroman

10-01-2006, 06:56 PM

Should be Mag 11.1 so should be able to see it under dark skies, would look like a faint star with a little haze around it. If you have a finder chart of the area and can starhop you should be able to find it with some luck

Stu

10-01-2006, 06:59 PM

Might be a good year. Can't wait for Swass-Watchmann 3 in june.

gaa_ian

10-01-2006, 10:37 PM

Could be a good one, If we get a clear night I will go looking for it !
I will never forget the Comets of 2004.
At one stage you could see one of them moving (slowly) across the background stars when watching for 5 mins or so in the northern sky :jawdrop:

gaa_ian

12-01-2006, 11:24 PM

OK .... we have a new Comet here, has anyone seen it yet :poke:
One of the keen astrophotographers must be able to get a snapshot of it, from somewhere :camera:
All I can see is the bottom of the clouds :cloudy:

davidpretorius

12-01-2006, 11:32 PM

i am keen tonight, no clouds, but a rather bright moon may cause issues!!!

gaa_ian

12-01-2006, 11:43 PM

Ahh yes ...the moon !
I am even hard pressed to see that through the clouds.
We have a developing monsoon trough here :cloudy:
Might be time to order and fit that Crayford focuser I have been promising myself !

Glenn Dawes

14-01-2006, 06:14 PM

Hi guys,

I've been having a look at the orbit of this comet it is very interesting.
It has a very high inclination ie. its orbit is close to 90° to the ecliptic and coming out of the deep south.

At the moment it is very low in the southern sky but moves quickly into the late morning sky where it stays until after its perihelion which happens on Feb 22 - when it is brightest (and works out well for anyone thinking of going to Kulnura on the New Moon Saturday in Feb (25th). Also at this time its phase angle is good (90°), so if there is a tail the Earth is in a good position for us to observe it. By late March it will be unobservable having moved into the daytime sky and then below the northern horizon for mid lattitude Aussie observers.

The attached ephemeris includes the magnitude, hours rising before the Sun and the constellation it is in. Don't be too concerned about the magnitude. This shows a magnitude of 10 when brightest. If it is a first time visitor to the Solar System it could easily be a couple of magnitudes brighter.

Happy observing.

Glenn D

avandonk

15-01-2006, 01:20 PM

I have quite a few pics of SMC in early December is there a plot of this comets position available as it would make it easier to find if present.

Thanks Bert

fringe_dweller

15-01-2006, 03:05 PM

Hi Bert, actually it was more late nov than early dec :ashamed: sorry!
here is som co-ordinates i generated using jpl's horizon http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eph

*********************************** *********************************** *********
Date_(ZONE)_HR:MN R.A.__(a-apparent)__DEC T-mag N-mag Cnst
*********************************** ******************************
2005-Nov-15 00:00 m 03 03 20.51 -70 59 11.2 17.05 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-16 00:00 m 02 57 26.51 -71 26 30.8 17.01 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-17 00:00 m 02 51 14.90 -71 52 41.9 16.97 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-18 00:00 m 02 44 45.49 -72 17 40.6 16.93 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-19 00:00 02 37 58.22 -72 41 23.3 16.90 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-20 00:00 02 30 53.18 -73 03 46.4 16.86 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-21 00:00 02 23 30.67 -73 24 46.0 16.82 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-22 00:00 02 15 51.15 -73 44 18.9 16.78 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-23 00:00 02 07 55.33 -74 02 21.8 16.74 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-24 00:00 01 59 44.15 -74 18 51.5 16.70 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-25 00:00 01 51 18.80 -74 33 45.5 16.66 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-26 00:00 01 42 40.70 -74 47 01.3 16.62 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-27 00:00 01 33 51.50 -74 58 37.2 16.58 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-28 00:00 01 24 53.09 -75 08 31.7 16.54 n.a. Hyi
2005-Nov-29 00:00 01 15 47.52 -75 16 44.2 16.50 n.a. Tuc
2005-Nov-30 00:00 01 06 37.01 -75 23 14.3 16.46 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-01 00:00 00 57 23.86 -75 28 02.7 16.42 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-02 00:00 00 48 10.42 -75 31 10.2 16.38 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-03 00:00 00 38 59.02 -75 32 38.7 16.34 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-04 00:00 00 29 51.94 -75 32 30.5 16.29 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-05 00:00 m 00 20 51.33 -75 30 48.4 16.25 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-06 00:00 m 00 11 59.16 -75 27 35.8 16.21 n.a. Hyi
2005-Dec-07 00:00 m 00 03 17.21 -75 22 56.3 16.16 n.a. Oct
2005-Dec-08 00:00 m 23 54 47.03 -75 16 54.1 16.12 n.a. Oct
2005-Dec-09 00:00 m 23 46 29.93 -75 09 33.3 16.07 n.a. Oct

this was for adelaide at 12:00 UT (i thought it was hmmm? says 00:00) daily increments - shouldnt matter

here is a quick crappy quictime movie i just made using SN covering dates 26th nov to 4th dec - each frame represents a day kinda :P
gives a rough idea
http://southern-x.org/so_x/c2006a1.mov

ps nice ephemeris Glenn thankyou! will come in handy - hopefully its sooo bright wont need one hehe :)

avandonk

15-01-2006, 03:08 PM

I also have some late Nov. Thanks, Will make the search far easier.

Bert

Glenn Dawes

04-02-2006, 11:06 PM

Hi Guys,

fyi, there have been reports of this comet now being visible in small binoculars. It is mainly a coma (4' in dia) with no sign of a tail. It has been described and disc-like or stellar in appearence (depending on the magnification of your binocs).

It will be well placed in the morning sky through much of February.

Regards

Glenn D

RapidEye

07-02-2006, 05:22 AM

Good for you guys!
From what I can tell, by the time it clears the southern horizon for us, it won't be so good anymore =-(...

Comon Levy or Macholtz - find us northern folks another good one!

astroron

07-02-2006, 12:08 PM

I observed Comet C/2006 A1 this morning at 04:15 in my 16"dob, it was very low in the south east and was just like a bright Globular Cluster with a very bright core/nuculas, no hint of a tail was visible I only had a very brief look because of thin cloud and mist coming up.
I wasn't able to see it in either 7x50 or 15x65 binoculars due to the mist and the brightening dawn sky. astroron :astron: :thumbsup:

fringe_dweller

07-02-2006, 01:28 PM

Clouds finally gone, got to see it monday morning, from a dark site.
Did some obs with large binos on tripods (we had three wicked tripods with two sets of 20x80's - tried out the triplet 20x80's yay - and my kunming 25x100's - would of been a good photo hehe) A1 had a faint half a degree tail in 100's. In 20x80's i got a pretty firm mag of 6.25. About 3 and a bit arc minutes in size, and i agree Ron very condensed GC looking head, not much outer coma. we thought we could see a green hue to head in the 100's.
Tried to be first to spot it, and report it, naked eye in the world - but too iffy to say - very small and hard to distinguish from nearby small star. Also caught a few centaurid candidates and some nice sporadics in the bargain earlier on.
i wouldnt be so sure it wont be nice for northerners RE - after all you get it after perihelion - thats the best time usually :)
Excellent session!

ving

07-02-2006, 03:03 PM

dang, and i was out last night too... gotta get my lappy out with cartes and track it down :)

fringe_dweller

07-02-2006, 05:15 PM

David, it is almost exclusively a morning comet on the border of Telescopium and Indus, low in the south eastern sky, reaching an altitude of 14º before summer twilight hits like a sledgehammer at a bit after 5 am for us here.
ahhh those exclusive bright far southern, morning comets - its what I live for astronomically speaking, and by far is the best thing about living in the far south of oz to me :)
gave up using 'scopes on bright comets a while ago now - (visually) big bino's from dark sky sites crap on everything else for bright comets most of the time IMO, even cheap ones! (on a sturdy tripod) - wide field in a scope might be cool tho - wasnt as impressive in anything under the 100mm binos - although there was some tail in 20x80's but nowhere as clear or good.
still got a nice afterglow from nearly two days ago mmmmmmmm :-)))))
ps better hurry if ya wanna see it, moons gonna be a spoiler in a few days!

gaa_ian

07-02-2006, 09:16 PM

I think I may be able to see it at about 4:30am, just !

Greg Bryant

07-02-2006, 10:42 PM

Now here's a comet that is surpassing expectations. From the initial visual brightness estimates of around 11th magnitude a month ago, it has rapidly brightened to be between 6th and 7th magnitude currently. That makes it easily the brightest comet we've had in over a year - since C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) - and there's still the potential for it to brighten further.

Its current morning visibility (and difficult at that) is a downer, but I'd certainly encourage anyone who feels inclined to go observing before dawn to do so.

gaa_ian

07-02-2006, 11:40 PM

I tend to agree Kearn, some of my best comet views have been with Bino's.
Our club has a set of 16x60 Pentax Bino's, these are great for comets!

fringe_dweller

08-02-2006, 09:18 AM

Saw it again this morning - still around the mid sixes and looking like a condensed glob in bino's.
You would love the big 100mm's Ian - I cant imagine what a $10 000 pair would be like :) dreamy!?

ving

08-02-2006, 09:25 AM

morning!!! i hate mornings :(
I dont want to get up early to se it :(

whens the next night time one? ;)

fringe_dweller

09-02-2006, 06:28 AM

No - Maybe midnight for 73P in May - sorry Vingo!
I made a crude quicktime movie of the daily morning positions of C/2006 A1 as seen from Adelaide with horizon just visible (and 35 south-ish) at 5 am - if you have a scroll wheel on your mouse each gentle click will be a days movement (in theory anyway) starting position from this morning today the 9th local time - to 5th of Feb here -
Please dont rely on this as an accurate guide - just a rough one

http://southern-x.org/so_x/a1/a1_35south.mov 350K d/l

Check out Michael Mattiazzo's site latest pics from yesterday morning - sweet :)
http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/ Michael has more detailed charts too

But my wide field pic from same morning, I have posted here, is prolly more of a reality check as far as non-comet ppl are concerned visually hehe

details:FWIW - I was messing around with a Canon 350D at the dark site whilst
there this morning just gone, only using a tripod, and no remote, plus
hand/eye focus. single 25 sec exp. 1600 iso with the god awful kit f/5 zoom
lens that comes with 350d, also my first attempt at a long exposure at
a dark site with it.
My 350D seems to be one of the ones with the bad banding - although
that can be processed out of course.
FOV = 30º across
Processing - very (non-biased) stretched and some usm - ,
as I am unfamiliar with the practicalities of deep sky dslr processing atm. stacking ect. still a film person really - as someone said all of that is already done in a film shot :sad: plus its not as conveniant with the mac

astroron

09-02-2006, 11:50 PM

I observed the Comet this morning at 03:45 through my 20cm SCT and 15x65 and 7x50 Bino's , in the SCT the comet showed a thin 1.25-2deg thin tail,bright Nuculus wih fainter outer halo,. a quick attempt was made to take a piggyback 300mm telephoto image but think the twilight beat me. In both the bino's the comet was only a bright fuzzy "star". It was a beautiful morning and it was worth getting up for with Jupiter and Venus gracing the Dawn sky.astroron:stargaze: :astron:

gaa_ian

09-02-2006, 11:57 PM

Well I am Going to go out and give this one a go in the morning, should be about 5deg above the SE horizon just before 1st light at 5am.
A challenge to be sure, but if I can spot it I will be a happy chappy ;)

cometcatcher

10-02-2006, 01:44 AM

It's always the way, my neighbour's tree is in the exact position of where this comet will rise from my observing spot.

gaa_ian

10-02-2006, 07:10 AM

Had to go up a local hill & find a clear vantage between the trees, but I saw it:stargaze:
Through my 16x60 Binos it was a greenish fuzzball !
I will have to see if I can find a vantage point where I can set up the richfield scope !

cometcatcher

10-02-2006, 04:24 PM

Ok now I'm jealous. Everything went wrong that could go wrong this morning. Clouds, tree, me. I forgot to calibrate the declination setting circle so was probably looking in the wrong spot. I used the wrong frame rate capturing something that wasn't the comet. It's been too long since my last comet and I've forgotten how to use a telescope!

Mike, can you please change my name to cometloser. Thanks.

gaa_ian

10-02-2006, 09:09 PM

I wouldn't stress too much Kevin, you have more time to see it than me !
I lose the comet here in the next 7 days.
I do however have a trip to SE Qld planned in a weeks time, so I might get a 2nd chance!

cometcatcher

11-02-2006, 07:33 AM

Found it this morning! Not sure how bright this is but it's very condensed. Sighted through a 6 inch F5 Newtonian and 30mm eyepiece. Pic here http://www2.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=90707#post90707

It's so condensed I followed it for about 55 minutes well into twilight to about 5:25am EST.

gaa_ian

11-02-2006, 03:26 PM

Nice capture on the thin tail Kevin
I hope I can get to see that tail visually !

cometcatcher

11-02-2006, 03:51 PM

I didn't see any visual sign of tail on the 6 inch scope but typically tails are usually very faint.

How come you lose the comet in the next 7 days? From Mackay I calculate the comet will actually gain some height as it heads north, although the moon will interfere. The comet appears to lose height on charts but they don't take into account that everything rises 4 minutes earlier each day.

fringe_dweller

11-02-2006, 04:23 PM

Man, this one is very addictive (arent they all?), such a sustained rapid brightening :-) I wont get much sleep for ages now! this morning backyard in the burbs, hand held 20x80's, .5 degree tail easy - hints of longer tail at times, mag maybe 6.1, ~ 4' in size, very bright condensed object in big bino's.
Nice pic Kevin :-)
this one has a funny feel about it - about blinkin time too - (disclaimer: I could be wrong?)
WARNING: comets can become seriously addictive! they should have a health warning :-)))
Kevin the charts dont also take into account that this time of year, down here - the nights get longer fast also - already I can see the sun coming in windows onto nothern window interior ledges - a sure sign of the sun moving north again. A sign I now dread usually ;( but not this time

cometcatcher

11-02-2006, 04:39 PM

Yes that's right, more dark time in the mornings.

Hehheh, I get a funny feeling about most comets. ;) This one is still 1au from Earth and nearly at perhilion. Should get a bit brighter yet.

fringe_dweller

11-02-2006, 05:29 PM

Kevin, gotta love the fact that the nights get longer at the morning end first
:)
I havent seen one brighten that steadily in as short a time for while :confuse3: almost daily around .1 of a mag recently, almost no wavering?
although some reliable predictions say it may only get to 5th mag at best. but to a comet fan - thats very nice indeed eh - especially if it has a intrinsicaly bright tail (not included in mag estimates/obs)

Greg Bryant

11-02-2006, 05:52 PM

Kearn,

If you model the comet's predicted brightness from now on, it should really only get to about 5th magnitude. A nice way to start the year, and a good warm-up for Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, which is developing quite nicely (both components!).

fringe_dweller

11-02-2006, 06:10 PM

Thanks Greg, hope your getting some good views of A1! :)
I am very much looking forward to 73P too, I have never seen a bright multi-component comet before - should be very interesting for me.

gaa_ian

13-02-2006, 12:40 AM

Good point Kevin
I was just looking at the chart from the southern comets homepage & superimposing my Horizon on it for that day.
For some reason the Ephemeris for this comet does not come up in my starry night ?
Even though I have done the updates !

fringe_dweller

13-02-2006, 03:25 AM

I dont know what OS - mac or pc - your using Ian, (i'm on a mac) but I had trouble at first too, even tho I cut and pasted the orbital elements into the usual comet.txt file for SNP as script from SN section of website http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/Soft07Cmt.txt , like I have done many times before (I dont use the update as I only want the less common brighter comets usually - I get everything else I needed from patches).
But found it didnt work like it used to - what I found when I looked is that they have changed the mpec designation at the end of the line of script from 'MPC 54987' type layout to this new 'MPEC 2006-C68' designation I suspect that was my trouble, because when I went and entered it in manually in the menu>file>'new comet orbiting sun' splash window and it worked fine. I guess changing the end of the line back to the old format may of worked too?. Its just my guess. i havent been reading the yahoo SN site much for a while, so cant say, seemed to work for David P tho?.
Do you normally get comets updating and working ok Ian before this?

chunkylad

24-02-2006, 01:27 PM

HI all

Have there been any more recent observations made of this comet?

ie: What is its currnt mag and position?

Cheers

Dave

fringe_dweller

24-02-2006, 02:24 PM

Hi Dave,
I have seen recent estimates that A1's head is around 5.3 in magnitude, and you can see some tail despite moonlight with large binoc's.
John Drummond of New Zealand has a recent pic and obs on his website http://tinyurl.com/jvwth
I finally figured out how to do a simple chart of comet's path in my SN - I forgot to add galaxies and globs tho :doh: I have the tail non existant just to be safe hehe well actually its coz the mag settings in my edited orbital elements are much lower than should be :P
the first number is the date (which ends at left on the 10th march - be very low by then!) second number is local daylight savings time of 5 am - all for around latitude 35 south
HTH!

cometcatcher

24-02-2006, 04:03 PM

I saw it briefly this morning. I guess the comet is mag 5.? something like most reports. Low in the east now.

It's quite easy in 7x50 binos but I can't pick it naked eye. I have light pollution in that area though.

chunkylad

25-02-2006, 11:34 AM

Hey Thanx guys!:cool:

I work nights, so I really need some er, 'encouragement' :whistle: to get up before 6:30am.

I would dearly love to catch up with 2006A1 though!

Cheers

Dave

acropolite

25-02-2006, 12:13 PM

I'm loading the data in to LX today (Dobbers...is it times like these you wish you had a goto??? :P), hopefully we'll get some good weather. :face:

cometcatcher

25-02-2006, 02:56 PM

Be quick Dave. It will be too low in a week or two. Second week of March and it's gone.

Starkler

26-02-2006, 09:47 AM

Not when your push-to computer can accept user object entries :P

chunkylad

26-02-2006, 10:21 AM

Thanks Kevin

Unfortunately, I have a very poor South Eastern aspect with trees and houses blocking my horizon. It seems I'll need to saddle up early :scared: and travel to a better viewing site to catch a glimpse of this comet.

73P/Schwassmann_Wachmann 3 in May this year is looking better all the time.

Cheers

cometcatcher

27-02-2006, 06:40 PM

Yep, looking forward to SW3 here also. It's going to be in a good position for me too. :cool:

Lester

28-02-2006, 08:31 AM

My first shot of the comet this morning with Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3. Was set at 200mm f6.3, 800iso, 207" exposure. About 9 degrees below Venus.

davidpretorius

28-02-2006, 09:39 AM

very nice lester.

this is what i saw, fainter tail with my eye yesterday morning.

That sharp core and diffuse outer

fringe_dweller

28-02-2006, 02:51 PM

:thumbsup: superb, just superb Lester, around 3 degrees or more of faint tail there going out of frame - wow, tails faded fast from last friday!
so we might have a new south aussie on the comet scene :) who actually lives in the country :eyepop:
I got to see it yeserday morning (monday) from dark site - saw it naked eye for first time, (once it was high enough), as a very easy too see pinpoint of light at about the 5th mag.
nice sight in the binoc's too

cometcatcher

28-02-2006, 03:26 PM

It's nearly a week past perihelion now. I haven't seen it for a few days as the wet weather has finally set in.

davidpretorius

28-02-2006, 03:36 PM

ok, to a comet newbie, past the closest approach to the sun????

cometcatcher

28-02-2006, 04:55 PM

Comets often have a very eliptical orbit. The outer part of the orbit is often past Pluto. The inner part of the orbit can be very close to the sun. Perihelion was the 22nd so it's heading back out to the outer solar system now. However due to orbital positions it's actually getting closer to Earth - on it's way out.

Forgot to mention that their orbit is not always in the equatorial plane either. It can be highly inclined kinda like a polar orbit. There's probably a name for it that I can't think of atm.

The comets that are seen near the N and S celestial poles have that highly inclined orbit.

Lester

02-03-2006, 08:19 AM

Hi comet lovers,

Here is a few shots taken this morning in reasonably warm conditions (heading for a hot one today). Comet was about 13 degrees below Venus.

Wide angle shot taken with 50mm @ f4 90 seconds
shot with 200mm @ f6.3 240 seconds
14" LX200 PF =f10 54 seconds
There was some strange reflections in the 50mm shot, I think due to the UHC filter that I tried. I think the UHC filter helped to condense the star images.

davidpretorius

02-03-2006, 08:30 AM

i wish i could see the pics :(

Lester

02-03-2006, 12:15 PM

Sorry David,

It took me some time to scale down the pics. I am getting faster though

acropolite

02-03-2006, 12:41 PM

I set the alarm for 4:50AM in an attempt to catch the beastie. No real need though as HRH Liz was awake at 4 waiting for the alarm to go off. Jupiter was the best I have seen at this hour of the morning, I think I may become an early morning convert. The comet was easily visible in the LX (8 inch) as a fuzzy blob just over the horizon and as time wore on a slight hint of a tail became apparent, although at first I wasn't sure that it wasn't imaginary. Unfortunately this is as good as I will probably see it without venturing away from the city as light pollution is bad from my viewing location to the east.:D