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Comet Garradd Anybody?
I've been out "observing" very little lately, aside from walking out
under the stars to visit the constellations on most clear nights. (Old friends...) Last night though, I got it in me to catch Comet Garradd with 11x80 binoculars. The comet was listed at something like mag 8.9, and seemed within reason for a casual look. I printed off a detailed map from http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ to see what I could see. The night was far from perfect... the day had been hot and humid, and as the air cooled a bit, all that moisture was turning into a ground-fog-like haze. Also, although I live on the edge of a very small town, (pop. 1400,) light pollution has gotten a bit worse in recent years, and my 61 year old eyes don't pick dim things up quite as well as they used to. Anyway, I stepped out at about 11:30 to take a peek. I usually walk down to the bottom of the hill by my house to get away from the town lights a bit, and use the cornfield to my East to block out the farm place lights, etc in that direction... unfortunately, there are soy beans in that field this year. No luck seeing the comet, or even the dimmer stars on the chart. Not real surprising, since I couldn't pick up the Andromeda Galaxy naked eye. I went back in. Later, I decided to give it another try. After wearing red goggles for about 15 minutes, I fumbled out in the dark with my binoculars, slipped off my goggles, and quickly whipped my 11x80's up toward the right field, just off Pegasus' nose... It took awhile, but after a bit off looking, keeping my eyes shielded by the eye cups on my binoculars, I convinced myself that I was seeing a bit of fuzz in the right spot. No way could I have picked this thing up under these conditions without a detailed chart and knowing right where to look along the UT time line. If it's clear tonight, I just might give it another try, and confirm movement with my binocs, or maybe go for an easy look with my old C8. Anyway, while this thing is no Hale-Bop, Hyakutake, or Holmes, it's still a comet. Anybody else looking? Marty |
#2
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Comet Garradd Anybody?
On 7/30/11 8:16 AM, Marty wrote:
I've been out "observing" very little lately, aside from walking out under the stars to visit the constellations on most clear nights. (Old friends...) Last night though, I got it in me to catch Comet Garradd with 11x80 binoculars. The comet was listed at something like mag 8.9, and seemed within reason for a casual look. I printed off a detailed map from http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ to see what I could see. The night was far from perfect... the day had been hot and humid, and as the air cooled a bit, all that moisture was turning into a ground-fog-like haze. Also, although I live on the edge of a very small town, (pop. 1400,) light pollution has gotten a bit worse in recent years, and my 61 year old eyes don't pick dim things up quite as well as they used to. Anyway, I stepped out at about 11:30 to take a peek. I usually walk down to the bottom of the hill by my house to get away from the town lights a bit, and use the cornfield to my East to block out the farm place lights, etc in that direction... unfortunately, there are soy beans in that field this year. No luck seeing the comet, or even the dimmer stars on the chart. Not real surprising, since I couldn't pick up the Andromeda Galaxy naked eye. I went back in. Later, I decided to give it another try. After wearing red goggles for about 15 minutes, I fumbled out in the dark with my binoculars, slipped off my goggles, and quickly whipped my 11x80's up toward the right field, just off Pegasus' nose... It took awhile, but after a bit off looking, keeping my eyes shielded by the eye cups on my binoculars, I convinced myself that I was seeing a bit of fuzz in the right spot. No way could I have picked this thing up under these conditions without a detailed chart and knowing right where to look along the UT time line. If it's clear tonight, I just might give it another try, and confirm movement with my binocs, or maybe go for an easy look with my old C8. Anyway, while this thing is no Hale-Bop, Hyakutake, or Holmes, it's still a comet. Anybody else looking? Marty Thanks for that report, Marty! -Sam |
#3
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Comet Garradd Anybody?
On Sat, 30 Jul 2011 08:26:46 -0500, Sam Wormley wrote:
On 7/30/11 8:16 AM, Marty wrote: I've been out "observing" very little lately, aside from walking out under the stars to visit the constellations on most clear nights. (Old friends...) Last night though, I got it in me to catch Comet Garradd with 11x80 binoculars. The comet was listed at something like mag 8.9, and seemed within reason for a casual look. I printed off a detailed map from http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ to see what I could see. The night was far from perfect... the day had been hot and humid, and as the air cooled a bit, all that moisture was turning into a ground-fog-like haze. Also, although I live on the edge of a very small town, (pop. 1400,) light pollution has gotten a bit worse in recent years, and my 61 year old eyes don't pick dim things up quite as well as they used to. Anyway, I stepped out at about 11:30 to take a peek. I usually walk down to the bottom of the hill by my house to get away from the town lights a bit, and use the cornfield to my East to block out the farm place lights, etc in that direction... unfortunately, there are soy beans in that field this year. No luck seeing the comet, or even the dimmer stars on the chart. Not real surprising, since I couldn't pick up the Andromeda Galaxy naked eye. I went back in. Later, I decided to give it another try. After wearing red goggles for about 15 minutes, I fumbled out in the dark with my binoculars, slipped off my goggles, and quickly whipped my 11x80's up toward the right field, just off Pegasus' nose... It took awhile, but after a bit off looking, keeping my eyes shielded by the eye cups on my binoculars, I convinced myself that I was seeing a bit of fuzz in the right spot. No way could I have picked this thing up under these conditions without a detailed chart and knowing right where to look along the UT time line. If it's clear tonight, I just might give it another try, and confirm movement with my binocs, or maybe go for an easy look with my old C8. Anyway, while this thing is no Hale-Bop, Hyakutake, or Holmes, it's still a comet. Anybody else looking? Marty Thanks for that report, Marty! -Sam Ditto. Nice read. Much appreciated. Seamus |
#4
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Comet Garradd Anybody?
Thanks for the report Marty! Weather permitting (the forecast says
I'll have a clear sky, above average transparency and a NELM better than 6.0) I'll nab the critter tonight and post a report. Sketcher, To sketch is to see. |
#5
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Comet Garradd Anybody?
Hi Marty, Thanks for the heads-up and report. (I attempted a reply
yesterday -- but it apparently failed to find its way to saa. Hopefully this posting will do better . . .) Last night was ideal for me. I set up a 13cm refractor beneath a magnitude 6.5 sky. A 50mm correct-image finder was used along with the chart you provided a link for to navigate from M15 to the comet. The comet was visible with the finder (though I had to look carefully to distinquish it from possible, small groupings of faint stars). Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) was obvious in the 5.1 inch refractor at 34x. It had a noticeably brighter nuclear region along with a short, stubby tail. I upped the magnification a little and worked on a sketch at 49x and 66x. This morning (after a decent night's sleep) I fired up the ol' computer, matched the sketched star field with a computer atlas, printed a computer version of my eyepiece field and re-sketched the comet on the printout using the at-the-telescope sketch to maintain an accurate scale and orientation for the comet. On the new sketch I could measure the comet's angular extent, etc. a bit more accurately. Results: The comet's visible coma was about 4.5 minutes in diameter. The tail, measured from the nucleus outward along a position angle (PA) of about 166 degrees (south-southeast), was about 9 minutes in length. On a different note: I had such a cloudy, rainy spring (very rare for my location) that I ended up putting astronomy on a back burner and concentrated more on other things. It was good to get back out under the familiar, friendly stars! Sketcher, To sketch is to see. |
#6
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Comet Garradd Anybody?
On Aug 4, 11:13*am, Sketcher wrote:
Hi Marty, Thanks for the heads-up and report. *(I attempted a reply yesterday -- but it apparently failed to find its way to saa. Hopefully this posting will do better . . .) Last night was ideal for me. *I set up a 13cm refractor beneath a magnitude 6.5 sky. *A 50mm correct-image finder was used along with the chart you provided a link for to navigate from M15 to the comet. The comet was visible with the finder (though I had to look carefully to distinquish it from possible, small groupings of faint stars). Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) was obvious in the 5.1 inch refractor at 34x. *It had a noticeably brighter nuclear region along with a short, stubby tail. *I upped the magnification a little and worked on a sketch at 49x and 66x. This morning (after a decent night's sleep) I fired up the ol' computer, matched the sketched star field with a computer atlas, printed a computer version of my eyepiece field and re-sketched the comet on the printout using the at-the-telescope sketch to maintain an accurate scale and orientation for the comet. *On the new sketch I could measure the comet's angular extent, etc. a bit more accurately. Results: *The comet's visible coma was about 4.5 minutes in diameter. The tail, measured from the nucleus outward along a position angle (PA) of about 166 degrees (south-southeast), was about 9 minutes in length. On a different note: *I had such a cloudy, rainy spring (very rare for my location) that I ended up putting astronomy on a back burner and concentrated more on other things. *It was good to get back out under the familiar, friendly stars! Sketcher, To sketch is to see. Thanks for that, Sketcher! SAA has been very erratic for me lately... Nothing new showed up in this group for me since August 1st, and today, a whole bunch of stuff came flooding in. I haven't had a chance to look for Comet Garradd since my first post, and now the moon is close to full, but I'm kind of chomping at the bit to get out and scoop up some starlight. The nights are getting a bit cooler, the sun is setting a little bit earlier, and I've even got my old locked angle tripod set up outside, just waiting... Marty |
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