The clouds didn't let me have all my own way this morning. Only managed 479 frames so the image is a bit noisy. Also changed the scope. Out with the 6 inch f5, in with a 5.5 inch f3.64 Schmidt Newtonian Celestron "Comet catcher". Now where have I head that name before?
The comet is really starting to "turn on" now that it's nearly at perihelion (22nd). Saw a tail very faintly in 7x50 binos and through the 5.5 inch. Nothing like the photos though.
The comet is really starting to "turn on" now that it's nearly at perihelion (22nd).
yes but also about to dive dramatically towards eastern horizon, as well as continueing north, very soon.
Great stuff Kevin, you seem to be the only imager thats following this one consistently in the southern hemisphere/world (and publishing them) - oh well isnt that the usual way, especially with low morning comets
No dust tail!!? unless that little bit of extended coma pointing in the s/s/e direction is it, at a guess, it is in between orbit trail and anti solar direction.
I agree top stuff!
A1 was/is brighter than the mags you quoted, latest ones I have seen indicate somewhere between 5.4 and 5.8, atm.
It has performed better than it was initially predicted too - ephemeris's/orbital elements are often not very accurate when dealing with magnitudes, they are just a guide/guesstimate - only the positions should be taken seriously.
Magnitude estimates during bright moonlit periods are slightly unreliable. One reason this is so, is because the outer coma often can become washed out, leading to slightly different readings than if it wasnt so.
Is it realistic to expect to see this comet as a naked-eye object at/after new moon considering the predicted Easterly movement and a Dawn Sky?
If it continues on this light curve/remains at this magnitude for this week and into next, I will stick my neck out and say a possible yes, but barely, and only from dark sky sites/view that has a great, very flat eastern horizon.
You would probably have to locate it first in scope/binocs first tho, to be sure of what your looking at.
most likely it will just be a dot the size of a star or slightly bigger, to the unaided eye, hardly spectacular.
But anything can happen with comets (just look at the day to day changes in (morphology) in Kevin's pics) , as is well documented, but most often than not, it is the nothing side of anything tho
FWIW here's hoping that it becomes better than it is expected too
Thanks everyone. Eastern morning comets are my favourite since that's where my adhoc observatory is positioned - out the window. Western is very difficult for me unless I go for a walk down the backyard, then imaging becomes difficult since the camera has to be connected to a full size PC that can take a PCI capture card.
Difficulties aside Comet Pojmanski is an excellent photographic target but visually it's a bit disappointing. I remember T7 Linear as a beautiful comet with a long easy to see visual tail in small scopes but this one is just a fuzzball at best and amost star like at low power.
419 frames from this morning. That's about 17 minutes worth. Interesting to see the tail change every day. The star trail gaps are from cloud interruptions.
I don't have an LPI Portmac, however I have seen deep sky images taken with one over at cloudy night's forum. You will likely need many 15 second frames stacked like I do in Registax to acheive the result.
Indeed I have a LPI, however my skill level with it is low...
What would be the best time in the morning to attempt to image it?
Even if the image fails I would still like to eyeball it if that is possible
