Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd

[Liz]

Found this little fellow this am, yeah!!:cool::cool::cool:
Is presently about mag 9.5 and brightening, but is quite easy to find as large, fan shaped and fuzzy. :D
This comet was disciovered by Aussie Gordon Garradd at Siding Springs in 2009. It has been slowly brightening, and will continue to brighten throughout the year and into 2012. It is predicted to reach naked eye visibility, fingers crossed. Sporting 2 dust tails in images (not mine). :)
It can be found in Pegasus, and quite high in the sky (for FNQ) at 4am.
Pop it into Stellarium if ya havent already.

http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf

[firstlight]

Thanks Liz... I might try to keep an eye on this in the next few weeks at least.

[Lester]

Good catch of the comet Liz. Looking forward to a comet with a tail again.

[Liz]

Thank you Tony and Lester.
I know what you mean Lester, i am looking forward to this one getting quite a bit brighter, and having a nice visible tail. :)

[Paddy]

Well done Liz. And the photo sits nicely beside your piccies in the solar system imaging forum. I'll put it on me list!

[[1ponders]]

Oooohh could be one for Astrofest! Thanks Liz! Great catch it is too. :clap:

Details Liz, details! Camera? ISO? Exposure? Lens/scope? f/??? :D

[Liz]

This is a great comet Paddy and Paul, and is only going to get better and brighter. We will be inundated with image over the next 6 months!!

Pic was taken with Canon 450D on tripod, 17mm, ISO 1600 for about 35 sec. :thumbsup: Glad to get a pic in before the experts take over.

Gordon Garradd works with Rob McNaught, what a pair!!

[[1ponders]]

You'll still have it over us for a while yet Liz (well a fortnight anyway :P ) with the better latitude. :thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

Given the current orbital elements we'll lose it in late October, when it will only be up in daytime. Times are AEST. Figures for Sydney.
C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
Date Time R.A. Decl. r d m1 Rise(A) Set(A)
2011- 7-12 3:07 22 28 6.81 5 39 38.5 2.648 1.913 9.8 21:19(262) 8:50( 96)
2011- 7-19 2:26 22 13 55.22 7 50 29.5 2.581 1.766 9.6 20:43(260) 8:03( 99)
2011- 7-26 1:40 21 56 9.07 10 8 14.4 2.515 1.638 9.3 20:03(257) 7:11(102)
2011- 8- 2 0:51 21 34 35.48 12 28 5.0 2.449 1.533 9.1 19:20(254) 6:15(105)
2011- 8- 9 23:50 21 5 38.11 15 0 5.1 2.374 1.447 8.8 18:34(251) 5:16(107)
2011- 8-16 22:54 20 37 29.61 16 55 0.9 2.310 1.404 8.6 17:44(249) 4:15(110)
2011- 8-23 21:58 20 8 16.75 18 23 31.8 2.246 1.391 8.5 16:52(247) 3:14(112)
2011- 8-30 21:02 19 39 46.65 19 21 15.1 2.184 1.406 8.4 15:59(246) 2:15(113)
2011- 9- 6 20:08 19 13 35.34 19 50 5.1 2.123 1.446 8.4 15:06(245) 1:19(114)
2011- 9-13 19:18 18 50 42.93 19 56 29.4 2.063 1.504 8.4 14:16(245) 0:28(114)
2011- 9-20 19:12 18 31 26.70 19 48 12.2 2.005 1.576 8.3 13:29(245) 23:35(114)
2011- 9-27 19:18 18 15 46.54 19 32 19.8 1.949 1.655 8.3 12:45(246) 22:53(113)
2011-10- 4 19:23 18 3 21.62 19 14 35.3 1.895 1.736 8.3 12:04(246) 22:14(113)
2011-10-11 19:30 17 53 42.71 18 58 56.9 1.843 1.816 8.3 11:26(246) 21:38(113)
2011-10-18 19:38 17 46 21.13 18 47 52.8 1.795 1.891 8.3 10:51(247) 21:03(112)
2011-10-25 19:44 17 40 51.88 18 43 1.8 1.750 1.959 8.3 10:17(247) 20:31(112)
Andrew

[wayne anderson]

Thanks Liz for reminding me to keep a look out for Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd, we recently moved from the NSW central coast to a much darker sky at Peachester QLD, i have only had the scope out a few times but now we are settled in to the new home i am looking forward to the great night views from this area.

[stephenb]

Thanks for the heads up, Liz :and nice shot :

[CometGuy]

Nicely done Liz :)

I managed to get a view of the comet on July 9 in 15x70 binoculars. Wasn't too much to look at in my somewhat light polluted sky, but pointing the scope to it with camera attached easily revealed the 2 short tails.

Its certainly doing OK this comet and should be quite interesting as it continues to brighten and glides thru Delphinus next month.

Terry

[DavidU]

Nice image there Terry.

[stephenb]

Good one, Terry.

[Liz]

Great to see 2 tails there Terry!!

[CometGuy]

Well had a good look at this one visually, its fairly easy to see in binoculars now. Here is my sketch.

[CometGuy]

Here is my image made at the same time (20 x 1min exposures with QHY9 + C8 f2.1).

[Liz]

Very nice Terry!!
I havent had a chance for a look of late, but look forward to when I do.

[mozzie]

thanks liz,there's 3 comets i'm going to chase at astrofest with dark skies and 180deg views :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

If you don't have 0.10.6 upgrade. Adding entries to ssystem.ini by hand will cause you to quickly reduce the quantity of your cranial hair.

Once you have Stellarium 0.10.6:
<F2>
Plugins
Solar System Editor - if "Load at startup" is NOT ticked, tick it, go back to "Main", click "Save settings", exit Stellarium, restart and come back to Solar System Editor.
click "configure"
"Solar System"

If C/2009 P1 is not in the list of objects:

"Import orbital ..."
"Comets" radio button
"Download ..." radio button
"Select bookmark" - by default there is only one to choose
"Get ..."

"Update ..."
"Only orbital ..." - I tick this.
"Mark all" or just the ones that interest you. C/2009 P1 should be in the list.
"Add objects"

Close all the config windows and you are done. You can select it as the target with <F3> and typing the name.

If it wasn't in the list, you could click the "Online search" tab, type the name in upper case - lower does not work, it has to match MPC's database - and click the magnifying glass.

Andrew

[Liz]

This is a nice one Mozzie as LARGE and easy to find, good luck!! :D

[Liz]

Checked out P1 at our local TAG night last night.

Rising about .... just after 9pm, and was fairly close to Enif (epsilon Pegasi). Medium sized fuzziness that everyone saw easily. :)

[Gem]

Been meaning to look at this comet, but its either cloudy or I observe too early (my eastern horizon is fairly blocked out, so I need objects to get past zenith). Need to stay up past midnight one night... :)

[glenc]

I was looking for the globular cluster M15 tonight and accidently came across Comet Garradd with 20x80 binoculars.
It is 1.8 degrees east of M15 tonight. I compared it with the Helix nebula using my binos, the comet is brighter and smaller.
Garradd is about mag 8.5 according to http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2009P1/2009P1.html
This 29/7 image is by Rolando Ligustri http://www.aerith.net/pictures/ligustri/C2009P1_110729.jpg

[sherm]

Had 3 good nights in a row to view Garradd here in Nova Scotia. Especially enjoyed my view the night of Aug 1-2 when I caught it in the same eyepiece view with M15. Recorded my eyepiece view as a pencil sketch on a Starry Night b-on-w printout chart, which I then scan to a jpeg and invert to a w-on-b. I tweek it a bit electronically and posted it as a feature on my website. Lots of fun and satisfaction. ( http://web.mac.com/sherm39/Site_2/Home_Site.html )

[steve000]

Sorry to Hijack but dont forget 45p/honda has about a week left of viewing for brisbaneites. its brightening rapidly

[Rob_K]

Nice job Sherman! :thumbsup: I observed it last night, 21mm EP in 4.5" f8 reflector (43x). Lovely little comet, bright, centrally condensed with a diffuse outer coma streaming off in a faint tail, in PA180. Watched it slowly move out of line with two reasonably bright stars, fascinating!

Sketch attached.



Had a look for 45P too but couldn't see it. Battling to see a mag 11.9 star nearby - noticed a mag 11.0 visual observation on the comet posted last night, but it was reported that it was very diffuse. When the sky is good I can easily see into the mid mag 12s on stars with this scope. Slight haze about, but the diffuseness is probably the killer in this scope. Maybe in a night or two, as it's brightening so rapidly. :shrug:

Cheers -

[glenc]

I looked at the comet tonight with a 12" Dob and a low power EP.
The tail is 20' to 30' long. My field of view is 93'.

[astroron]

I observed Two comets last night in the 16",Comet P1 Garradd which showed very little difference to the last time I observed it very slightly brighter maybe ,I agree with glenn about the tail, I was using a T4 17mm Nagler FOV 46'.
Comet 2010 X1 Elenin is in Virgo and low down in the West just after twilight.
Was observed through Smoke haze but still showed fan shape.no guess as to mag seeing as it was in quite thick smoke .:(
In same field as Galaxy NGC 4030, which made for an interesting view considering the poor conditions .
Cheers

[Rob_K]

Good one Ron! :thumbsup: I'm hoping for a bit of clear sky on the weekend to observe these comets.

The night before last there was a very short cloud-free break after sunset and I attempted to image a low C/2009 P1 Garradd through trees, and the departing 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova disappearing into twilight!

Please don't laugh, these shots are a sign of my desperation after a wet & cloudy winter! :P

http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/C2009P116Aug201110-00UTsm.jpg
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/45P16Aug2011fullfrtextsm.jpg

Cheers -

[astroron]

Well done Rob,:)
Like your pic's:D
I would like to get a look at 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova but it is too low in the evening and too Moonie in the morning sky plus I Juuuuuust dont feel like getting out of a warm bed :rolleyes:.
Cheers :thumbsup:

[Gem]

With my limited northerly aspect, I have finally caught this comet between the trees. Reminds me of NGC 104 through binoculars - the brighter core and the fuzzy edges. Not much tail to speak of (quite faint), but I am looking towards the centre of Canberra in that direction so the light pollution definitely a factor.

[Liz]

Nice piccies Rob. :thumbsup:

I havent seen this comet for ages - been on holidays, and unable to get my scope out as house renovations going on, and am not home.

Hoping this weekend will snaggle it again. :)

[ZeroID]

Had a hunt for Garrad last night. Gets up to about 35 degrees North at 10 pm but it's not my best direction LP wise. And then a fine haze cloud layer moved in and only had the little 80mm out so no luck. Try again tonight, clouds willing. I'll get the 10" scope out hopefully. Might be able to test my 32mm 2" EP, should be good as sweeper.

[Marcus10]

Comet is looking good now as it's so close to Messier 71 it's making a beautiful pairing. It is also now easy to find.

[Liz]

Sounds good Marcus, alas cloudy up here. :sadeyes:

A new chart to show the position of the comet.

[stopusinmyid]

How bright should Comet Garradd be? We were looking last night about this time, we found M71 fine but couldn't seem to find the comet. I'm guessing maybe we didn't pan across enough :shrug:

[cookie8]

I have the same problem but mine is only a 5" Mak. To me its just a very dim blob just below Gamma Sagittae. Needs a lot of dark adaptation. Even averted vision in the beginning. I don't see a bright nucleus at all. Good luck.Its mag 8 smeared over so don't expect a bright coma.

[mithrandir]

It's magnitude is in the low to mid 8's, and tonight close to Zeta Sge (mag 5) and a bit further from Delta Sge (mag 3.8)

[Giorgio]

I finally found it this night at about 8:35pm (more or less)
I could observe it in both a Celestron 25mm WA and a Baader 12.5mm Ortho on my 150mm GSO Reflector. Initially I thought it was a relatively small globular cluster. Then I verified with stellarium none are so close to M71 and finally by Cartes du Ciel (http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/start) identified it was the Garradd comet.
I tried last week (in the only night without clouds) to find her (the Italian "Cometa"takes the female gender), without any luck, such I thought it wasn't bright enough for my gear.

I couldn't see the tail but hey it is my very first comet saw by a scope :rofl:

The attached image is a screenshot done with stellarium. Garradd position (more or less) is in the center of the overlapping Telrad pattern and highlighted by a pale red circle.
I also added what I reckon it may be the path Garradd covered since last week (I approximately knew then where it was by Cartes du Ciel).
If this path is right, I should find her tomorrow following it.
I hope this image may help others to find her. Please let me know if it actually will work for you :eyepop:

[GrahamL]

Had a look last night , a couple of degrees east of m71
couldn't really see a tail, though seeing was pretty average .

good to be well again and get outdoors:thumbsup:

[stopusinmyid]

der to me :P,
obviously not paying attention to those details and was expecting something a little brighter. will pay closer attention next time. clouds have come over tonight. typical, my celestron neximage camera arrived today :(

[Liz]

Ooh, new camera tammy, probably clouded out for a few daysss for you. When I saw the comet last, it was a big (astronomically talking) beautiful blob, so dont expect it to be too bright .... yet.

Pretty cloudy last night here too, so didnt set up scope, but took a couple of pics with camera on tripod, so will check out shortly. :question:

[ZeroID]

Thanks for the image. Now I know I'm looking in the roight place, I recognised the asterism. Just have to open my eyes a bit wider if the clouds get cooperative and drag the big scope out. Might even finally get to test my 2" 32mm EP !! Should be a good choice for wide feild scanning.

[ZeroID]

Had another go at this tonight, Evening cleared up but half a moon washed out the sky somewhat. Still no luck even with the 10" but I'm not sure where it is now. Clouds returned in force at 9:00pm and that was the end of that. :shrug:

But did manage to get the 32mm 2" EP into action. Great feild of view and quite good right out towards the edges although it was quite sensitive about being on axis viewing. If your eye wandered off a mm then it got all 'edgy' and you lost the view.

Also got the O III onto the 20 mm superview and had a good look at Lagoon despite the fact it was very close to the moon. The O III made a big difference to how much of the neb structure you could see and the extent of it. Quite effective although quite a lot darker of course.

I also got some workshop time in and built most of the new Dob AZ base for the Serrurier build. I'll photo it when it goes together and add it to the DIY thread.

[mithrandir]

Updated CdC chart. Sep 4 to Sep 28.

[ZeroID]

Dammitt !! thanks.
I must be going blind as or the LP is chronic. I was scouring that general area. <sigh> Mag 12.4 is probably pretty marginal in the soup I'm peering through. Be no good in the 80mm for sure.
I'll have another go tonight, scope is still out there waiting.
Might try and find Pallas while I'm there.

[Suzy]

Brent, I saw the comet in my 10x60 binos last night! :D
I viewed it from suburbia and light pollution to boot, so you should have no trouble seeing it thru your scope.
I tried for it while the moon was out and sinking below the horizon, but no luck. Had another go when the moon disappeared and there it was!

To find it, I followed the directions that AstroRon had given me...
Have a look where the gap is between the hook and the rest of the coat hanger, keeping on that same line, I then I looked to the right (with scope's upside down image, look to the left). I estimate it's only within 2 deg. of the cluster. Thru the binos, it's dim and fuzzy but largish in size (sorry, wish I knew how to determine arc secs.).
The cluster and the comet fitted in beautifully with room to spare in my binos. I have about a 6 deg fov thru them, so there looked to be about 4 deg to the right left over after the comet. Hope that makes sense.

You'll get it I know you will; look forward to your report on it! :D

[Analog6]

How do I put it into Stellarium pleased? Running it on an imac

[Analog6]

OK, Done this. When I go to F2/Plugins I have a list which says
Angle Measure
Compass Marks
satellites
Solar System Editor
Telescope Control
Text User Interface
Time Zone

For Solar System Editor it says Contact http://stellarium.org

I can't find a contact email there and the forum doesn't seem to have anything. Can anyone help, please?

[Gem]

What are the RA Dec each night for September? I hate the comet-minor planet emphemeris site... too hard to work anything simple out! :confused2:

[Gem]

Ok... found it now on another thread...

[ZeroID]

Got it !! :thumbsup:
Little fuzz ball fortunately sitting in a dark area between HIP 96596 and HIP 94910. Definitely NOT viewable in my binocs and CBD LP. The only EP which had the right combo of FOV and dark was the 20mm GSO Superview. 32 mm lost it in glare and in the 15 mm it just got too dark to find. We've also got thin haze tonight so even seeing Coat Hanger is a mission in naked eye.
Think I got some indication of tail direction with averted vision, high east I'd say. Almost a pinpoint of the head in the fuzz ball. No wonder I was having problems just scanning around for it.
Might give it another whirl later on when it gets further over north and hopefully the CBD lights drop a bit. My north western sky is limited by the trees and a small volcano so waiting for the moon to set is not really an option.

[mithrandir]

Once you select SSE in the list, look at the the bottom right of that pop-up window.

You have to tick the "load at start" checkbox, save settings from the "Main" tab, quit Stellarium and come back to SSE before you can click configure.

[mithrandir]

It's not that hard, if a bit tedious first try. Go to http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi

Fill in as per the screenshot. The "change" links take you to subsidiary pages to fill in the values. I used the "60 days" option to get those start/stop/interval values. Click "Generate Ephemeris". If you allow the cookies it will remember what you said for next time.

You could use the "Table Settings" to restrict the output to just the first few columns.

[Analog6]

Thanks for that. I did that and ended up when I tried to search for the files with the message the server http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/~cgi/MPEph2 was unavailable. Just an error. I probably did something wrong. I give up, I'll just come here and see where it is.

[Liz]

Odille ..... i keep going back to this post of Andrews when I forget how to put in a new comet. ;)

Configuration->Plugins->Solar System Editor->configure
Solar System tab
"Import ..." button
Comets
Download ...
Select bookmark -> MPC's list ...
Get ...
Mark all (or just the ones you want)
Add objects

[Liz]

Hadnt seen the comet for ages, but had a good look last night at our public night. A faint blob in the moonlit sky, but still clear enough.
Alas, the public were expecting a big tail. :sadeyes:

[Liz]

Checked out P1 tonight, and its looking great!!

My skies are darker than when I observed it last, and tonight it was a large reasonably bright condensed blob, with elongation (tail thingy?) coming out from the ..... NE (if I reverse the look in the scope ;) )

Tried for Comet Swan but no luck.:sadeyes:

Tried the Comet Filter I bought from the US but minimal difference to Garrad, and didnt help in finding Swan. :question:

[Rob_K]

Funny, I looked at P1 last night and thought it was dimmer than last time I saw it Liz, but my situation was reverse - worse skies than last time I looked! :P Still looked good though. Also saw SWAN, but it appeared tiny and very faint in my little scope. Had to use averted vision, maybe only an arcminute in diameter visible. Very pleased to eyeball it just because of the degree of difficulty, LOL.

Probably a more experienced comet observer can advise you, but I think P1 doesn't respond that well to the Swan Filter because it is very dusty. SWAN would because it is much more 'gassy', but it is faint and small and the filter is probably not such a good tool to track it down with. :shrug:

Cheers -

[Liz]

Thanks for that Rob - good to hear that SWAN is tricky anyway, and that I wasnt just going over it, around it, under it. :D

Yes, Comet Garradd looked the best I have seen it. :)

Didnt have high hopes with the filter but thought it was worth a try.

[glenc]

A couple of nights back I looked at Comet Garradd with a 12" and swept back and forth across its tail. I think it is about 30' long.
S&T has an upsidedown map of its path. http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Garradd_Findr.pdf
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/128836743.html

[Liz]

This little fellow is in our northern skies at the moment, with some amazing images being taken with its 2 tails spurting from opposite directions.

I had clear skies this am so headed down to the beach for a few pics .... just a camera on a tripod. Moon was about so a bit light, and when Comet had risen higher, dawn was approaching.

Still, I got him. :)

It is presently in the northern constellation of Draco, at about mag 7, and still heading north. At my latitiude it is near Vega, so who can see Vega in the mornings??

PS ... I am a terrible processer.

I couldnt see it in binoc but probably left it too late, as getting light.

I really must try and attach my camera to the scope to try for some better images. :question:

[mithrandir]

Liz from this far south, on Feb 18 C/2009 P1 rises at 06:42 and sets at 08:44. Given that sunrise is at 06:33 I think I'll give it a miss.

Feb 19 rise is at 07:25 and set at 07:43.

Feb 20 through Apr 01 it never rises. It will be mid April before it clears my trees.

[Liz]

No Andrew, this is a more northerly one for sure, but still, there are a few who could give it a go. Mackay up maybe. :)