On Aug 24, 8:49*pm, Marty wrote:
After seeing that it was a clear night, and the moon wasn't
interfering yet, I ran out for another look at Comet Garradd. *I
hadn't seen it since my last effort when it was just creeping away
from Pegasus' nose, and now it was buzzing under the tip of
Sagitta... *I didn't take the time to dark adapt, and while I'm not
nearly as cursed by light pollution as most people, my situation
hasn't gotten any better over the years. *Also, I don't think my eyes
pick up dim objects quite as well as they did when a younger man was
using them. *I studied the chart (http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/)
carefully...
* * *When I got out to look at about 10:00pm CDT, I spent a few
minutes looking around at the constellations and bright "M" objects to
let my eyes adapt just a bit. *Not a bad evening... *66 F, a few
locusts chirping, and clear skies. *Then I swung my binocs up to
Sagitta and took a look. *I found a blur in about the right place, but
not EXACTLY in the right place. *I was a little confused and
frustrated. *I came in and checked the chart again, and then went out
and looked again. *There was the little fuzzball, but still, it wasn't
quite where it should be... *Was I seeing some of the background
confusion in the starclouds of the Milky Way, and missing the comet?
I went back in and checked the chart again... *AH HA... *The tick
marks on the chart weren't for 0 hours Universal Time, but for 13
hours on the 24th and 8 hours on the 25th... *OK, so I'm a better
observer than a chart reader... *THAT'S it... *I'm a better observer
than a chart reader... *That works....

Marty

Thanks Marty