[Weltevreden SA (Dana)]

Comet Lemmon is brighter and larger than I expected—only marginally smaller and fainter than 47 Tuc. Too much moon (77%) to see it visually, but spotted it easily in 15x70 binocs last night (Feb 19), tracked it for an hour in a 180mm f/10 Mak in between clouds & transparency no better than 2/5. Tonight in post-cold front breezy but clear 4 out of 5 skies it's outstanding in a 200mm Mak f/12 up to 300x, and none too shabby in a 100mm f/6 achro at 28x. Moves fast, too. In five mins its position changed noticeably against a field of 5th to 8th mag stars. The halo brightens evenly to a bright tiny core about the same brightness as 47 Tuc's core. The tail, alas, is nothing to send up flares about. Better in binocs, but still pretty tepid compared with that core. It's much brighter than Gerradd two years ago. Given its performance tonight you should be able to pick it out even in full-moon night.