who knows what B's gonna do Ian, from what I have read, and from Terry's last observation, sounds like it has subsided a tad, but still just naked eye at a dark spot - but its like a volcano, bit hard to predict I guess. could go dormant and then just kaboom! Good luck!
Saw fragment B easy this morning, but was foiled in my attempts to see fragment C by the clouds rolling in.
Must remember to have a map Pre-printed next time !
wow pretty deep eh! a bit to deep for something moving that fast methinks, must of added deeper shots of area to stack? something funny about the brown ring around the ring neb itself? 'tis a little trickery/magic going on there
take a look at a QT movie by Jeff Terry (U.S) (all mac too ) of said fragment moving away from ring - check out progress over around an hour and a half!! wo-wo-woah - something Hyakutake-like about that apparent speed/proximity http://mrmac.mr.aps.anl.gov/~astronu...s/cometM57.htm
Note: MOV loads at bottom of page
Yay
Finally got to have a look at both comet fragments B & C this morning.
Fragment B is definatly the brighter of the 2 with a distinct tail.
Fragment C's tail can only be seen with averted Imagination !
Pity is, I had to wait for clear skies to coinside with a near full moon
Yay
Finally got to have a look at both comet fragments B & C this morning.
Fragment B is definatly the brighter of the 2 with a distinct tail.
Fragment C's tail can only be seen with averted Imagination !
Pity is, I had to wait for clear skies to coinside with a near full moon
we have had a lot of morning cloud and now its raining so I have missed out this week. our forecast is for cloudy days for a while.
yep solid low cloud (especially at night) here for weeks now - officially SNAFU ggrrrrrrrr cant even get a pic of the full moon (need a hit badly now) I bought a little dvd player to focus with and all
cheers for report Ian too
YAY clear skies at last! hey there not bad at all - just had quick squiz 20x80' bibocs hand held.
Found the first and larger tadpole, fragment B, very easy, considering moonlight, and local LP. Could make out large (maybe about 10' in diam) dust hood/coma and cc pretty well, hints of a tail of at least 2 degrees, brighter part was easy half a degree.
fragment C was a smaller slimmer version of B, very nice in its own right, and had some elevation on B, with maybe around .5 deg. of tail.
Very cool to see two simultaneous bright binocular comets within a short distance of each other what a night :-))))))
Looks like it could be a clear night here tonight so thought I,d try get outta bed and have a look for myself. Can anyone point me to a reasonable starchart that shows where the various components are? I have CDC but I can only seem to get it to show just one component and I,m not even sure which component it is.
Craig, here's a couple of screenshots for adelaide tomorrow morning 5:30 am 17th May looking north/north east
try this website for more charts - click on 73P http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/
I wish I had left the scope out for a look this morning - DOH!
Hope you got to see the comets Smokey
I had another look this Morning, with both the B & C fragments Squarely in Pegasus.
The B fragment was as clear as last time I looked, however the C fragment had a more easily decernable tail this time.(perhaps due to better seeing ?)
Not a distinct or long as fragment B, but clearly visable.
Observed with a pair of 16x60 pentax PCF WP Binoculars, a favourite instrument of mine for comet watching.
saw both this morning at 4.40 - definite tail on one, the other was a struggle to make it out. Nice to see it naked eye for the first time and through bino's. Now hope its clear this weekend to image it
I missed it last night.Talk about Murphys law.
Since bringing home our first baby over the weekend, she has been getting up for a feed at around 3.00-3.30 every morning. The first cloudless night and I volunteer to get up and what happens???...She slept thru till 7:00 am.
Hopefully the clouds will stay away tonight and I,ll try again.
WOW ...you could see it naked Eye Houghy ... I'm impressed !
To faint for me under a moonlit sky !
No I am not pulling your leg either, if you have a look at http://weather.wvec.com/auto/wvec/gl...JetStream.html you would have noticed that we had no Jetstream, matter-of-fact the twinkling over Newcastle at that time in the morning was virtually nil even right to the horizon. The sky was extremely contrasty and the moon really didn't seem bright. Looking north in Pegasus area I was able to make out smudges, one with a definite tail, the other just the smudge. The tail was not big. Really surprised me with the seeing conditions.
WOW ...you could see it naked Eye Houghy ... I'm impressed !
To faint for me under a moonlit sky !
I'm impressed too! you will have to donate those eyes to science one day H0ughy
PS I think it has been mentioned here, but if your not aware and it may be obvious , but it helps a lot to block the moon out with a tree or building or something when viewing the comets in these conditions - and beware the moon just gets closer to the comets now till its gone again - go for it! I would be interested in some telescopic view reports now
) of said fragment moving away from ring - check out progress over around an hour and a half!! wo-wo-woah - something Hyakutake-like about that apparent speed/proximity 
and just when I have a new toy for the toolbox 
you will have to donate those eyes to science one day H0ughy 
