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Comet Garradd Visits M71
I ran out a little after 10:00 with my old C8 to get a look at Comet
Garradd's close approach to M71... It was a pretty clear night, although kind of humid, and I had to wait for the lights of the local high school football game to my north to turn off. This was an easy starhop, right under Sagitta. After setting up, I had both the comet and the globular cluster in the same low power field within a minute or two... This was cool...! The pair of fuzzies were fun to compare... M71 easily breaking up into stardust, with Comet Garradd staying misty with a condensed nucleus. The comet's tail seemed to flare out rather broadly toward the cluster, maybe favoring the western side just a bit. I had absolutely no dark adaption, and the busy background of the Milky Way tended to visually confuse things just a bit for me... I have an eyepiece turret on my C8, and I tend to flip around quite a bit... Both objects took magnification well... My 12mm eyepiece was my high power tonight at 160x... At that magnification I could still fit the comet and half of M71 into my field of view! With a 40mm eyepiece, (50x) both objects took center stage with the star-studded northern Milky Way background all around them. Well worth the look! I occasionally backed away for a look at the constellations, (my first celestial love,) and once hopped up for a look at the Dumbbell Nebula... The night wasn't good for detail, but it seemed to be pretty transparent. I saw little mottling in the brighter part of the nebula, but the dimmer sides flared out clearly to give it an obvious "football" shape. (OK, an "American" football...) I whipped back down again to the Garradd - M71 pair, and tried to freeze it in my mind for a few minutes... I dragged my scope back in and made a quick, crude, sketch. It'll be fun to compare this to the photographs that come out of this thing... Now I've gotta go down and put my scope to bed... Marty |
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
On 8/26/11 11:10 PM, Marty wrote:
I ran out a little after 10:00 with my old C8 to get a look at Comet Garradd's close approach to M71... It was a pretty clear night, although kind of humid, and I had to wait for the lights of the local high school football game to my north to turn off. This was an easy starhop, right under Sagitta. After setting up, I had both the comet and the globular cluster in the same low power field within a minute or two... This was cool...! The pair of fuzzies were fun to compare... M71 easily breaking up into stardust, with Comet Garradd staying misty with a condensed nucleus. The comet's tail seemed to flare out rather broadly toward the cluster, maybe favoring the western side just a bit. I had absolutely no dark adaption, and the busy background of the Milky Way tended to visually confuse things just a bit for me... I have an eyepiece turret on my C8, and I tend to flip around quite a bit... Both objects took magnification well... My 12mm eyepiece was my high power tonight at 160x... At that magnification I could still fit the comet and half of M71 into my field of view! With a 40mm eyepiece, (50x) both objects took center stage with the star-studded northern Milky Way background all around them. Well worth the look! I occasionally backed away for a look at the constellations, (my first celestial love,) and once hopped up for a look at the Dumbbell Nebula... The night wasn't good for detail, but it seemed to be pretty transparent. I saw little mottling in the brighter part of the nebula, but the dimmer sides flared out clearly to give it an obvious "football" shape. (OK, an "American" football...) I whipped back down again to the Garradd - M71 pair, and tried to freeze it in my mind for a few minutes... I dragged my scope back in and made a quick, crude, sketch. It'll be fun to compare this to the photographs that come out of this thing... Now I've gotta go down and put my scope to bed... Marty Thank you Marty -- I always feel like I am right there with you in your observations! -Sam |
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
On Aug 26, 11:14*pm, Sam Wormley wrote:
On 8/26/11 11:10 PM, Marty wrote: I ran out a little after 10:00 with my old C8 to get a look at Comet Garradd's close approach to M71... *It was a pretty clear night, although kind of humid, and I had to wait for the lights of the local high school football game to my north to turn off. *This was an easy starhop, right under Sagitta. *After setting up, I had both the comet and the globular cluster in the same low power field within a minute or two... *This was cool...! *The pair of fuzzies were fun to compare... *M71 easily breaking up into stardust, with Comet Garradd staying misty with a condensed nucleus. *The comet's tail seemed to flare out rather broadly toward the cluster, maybe favoring the western side just a bit. *I had absolutely no dark adaption, and the busy background of the Milky Way tended to visually confuse things just a bit for me... *I have an eyepiece turret on my C8, and I tend to flip around quite a bit... *Both objects took magnification well... *My 12mm eyepiece was my high power tonight at 160x... *At that magnification I could still fit the comet and half of M71 into my field of view! *With a 40mm eyepiece, (50x) both objects took center stage with the star-studded northern Milky Way background all around them. *Well worth the look! * * * I occasionally backed away for a look at the constellations, (my first celestial love,) and once hopped up for a look at the Dumbbell Nebula... *The night wasn't good for detail, but it seemed to be pretty transparent. *I saw little mottling in the brighter part of the nebula, but the dimmer sides flared out clearly to give it an obvious "football" shape. *(OK, an "American" football...) * * * I whipped back down again to the Garradd - M71 pair, and tried to freeze it in my mind for a few minutes... *I dragged my scope back in and made a quick, crude, sketch. *It'll be fun to compare this to the photographs that come out of this thing... * * * Now I've gotta go down and put my scope to bed... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Marty * *Thank you Marty -- I always feel like I am right there with you * *in your observations! * -Sam Maybe someday we'll do that, Sam. Marty |
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
Just out of curiosity, I ran out again at 12:15am with 11x80
binoculars... Again, with no dark adaption, which seems to be my usual technique lately. I could make out a little "confusion" at the location of M71, but not much to get excited about. With my eyes and my skies, this is definitely a "telescope" view. To make it worth my while, I barrelhoused around the sky a bit, picking up M33, NGC 752, Kemble's Cascade, and few others... Jupiter's rising very bright... Time spent under the stars is never wasted... Marty |
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
On Aug 27, 7:32*am, Marty wrote:
Time spent under the stars is never wasted... Marty Under the stars is good but what is much better is the looking out into the celestial arena where the stars come into view as the Earth rotates with just a slight shift in view to consider our own Sun as one of those stars. Right ascension defines declination,or puts relevance to stellar circumpolar motion in the neighborhood of Polaris but do you really want to be under a stellar circumpolar dome for no other reason than you lack the creativity to cut the motions of the Earth loose from a rotating celestial sphere.When you put your binoculars away your hobby ends for the night but there is another astronomy that matches cause and effect with little or nothing other than the astronomer's power to reason. The normal experience of looking at a mountain, a tree,a person or any other delightful object against the clear background of the sky is one of humanity's most endearing traits but for you and your homocentric empiricist buddies,you can't apply the same attitude to the stars ,you want to 'curve' the background space or be 'under' the stars,never the actual perception of looking out of the stars in context of the great galactic islands of which we are a part. Go outside and breathe the air of an astronomer for a change. |
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
I'm going to attempt to post a URL for my quick sketch last night...
IF THIS WORKS, it's not a work of astronomical art, but a crude visual note to myself so that I can compare what I saw to the photographs that will undoubtedly be posted on the web. (These things also make my log more fun to look back on...) My respect and admiration for Sketcher increases exponentially when I make these attempts... http://img.villagephotos.com/imageview.aspx?i=27409198 Marty |
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
On Aug 27, 8:28*am, Marty wrote:
I'm going to attempt to post a URL for my quick sketch last night... IF THIS WORKS, it's not a work of astronomical art, but a crude visual note to myself so that I can compare what I saw to the photographs that will undoubtedly be posted on the web. *(These things also make my log more fun to look back on...) *My respect and admiration for Sketcher increases exponentially when I make these attempts...http://img.villagephotos.com/imageview.aspx?i=27409198 Marty Hmm. I clicked on this to see if it worked after I posted it, and showed it to my wife, and she LAUGHED.... Marty |
#9
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
On Aug 27, 6:35*am, Marty wrote:
On Aug 27, 8:28*am, Marty wrote: I'm going to attempt to post a URL for my quick sketch last night... IF THIS WORKS, it's not a work of astronomical art, but a crude visual note to myself so that I can compare what I saw to the photographs that will undoubtedly be posted on the web. *(These things also make my log more fun to look back on...) *My respect and admiration for Sketcher increases exponentially when I make these attempts...http://img.villagephotos.com/imageview.aspx?i=27409198 Marty Hmm. *I clicked on this to see if it worked after I posted it, and showed it to my wife, and she LAUGHED.... Marty * Hey Marty, it's as good as E. E. Barnard's sketches. Clear Skies.... |
#10
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Comet Garradd Visits M71
"Marty" wrote
http://img.villagephotos.com/imageview.aspx?i=27409198 Marty Hmm. I clicked on this to see if it worked after I posted it, and showed it to my wife, and she LAUGHED.... It looks like a bird just got hit, feathers flying.... :-) |
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