Three Comets Tonight

[glenc (Glen)]

Three comets are visible tonight, two after sunset and one before sunrise.
The attached Guide 9.0 images show the first two at 7pm and the last at 4am with the zenith up.
1. Comet Oukaimeden (mag 6.3) is 7.8 degrees from M83 at 7pm.
2. Comet Siding Spring (mag 8) is 7.7 degrees from M7 at 7pm.
3. Comet Panstarrs (mag 6) is about 20 degrees to the right of Procyon at 4am tomorrow and 6.4 degrees from M48.
I saw Panstarrs ths morning with 20x80 binoculars.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

It sure is a busy time for comets at the moment. 2013 V5 Oukaimeden is putting on an awesome show photographically with a long slender ion tail.

[Neil]

I'll have to add these to my observing list, thanks Glen, clear skies

[dannat (Daniel)]

checked out Oukaimeden last night -for being mag 6.3 i thought it was still faint & it was difficult to detect a tail at 75x -it was just visible in small binos

[MortonH]

I could only just detect Siding Spring from the Blue Mountains tonight with my 8" Newt. I think it's quite a bit fainter than mag 8. More like mag 10.

But I was very pleased to track it down.

[glenc (Glen)]

I saw all 3 comets last night with a 16" Dob. Oukaimeden is the best comet, the tail is 30+ arc mins long. Panstarrs is similar in brightness to Oukaimeden but the tail is hard to see. Comet Siding Spring is a faint haze in a rich part of the Milky Way.
The attached Guide 9.0 map shows Saturn at 7pm tonight and Oukaimeden's path for 7 days.

[andyc (Andy)]

Thanks for the heads-up! Been following Siding Spring in the 16", definitely no brighter than about mag 10 and tricky to spot from southern suburbs. But glad you've highlighted the other two, as I was vaguely aware of them but not keeping closer watch.