Great comet views from York tonight

Hi All,

The clouds co-operated (for once) this afternoon, and I was able to observe
the comet from 4:40pm until just after 5pm with 10 x 50 binos and the naked
eye from a convenient railway bridge, about 10 miles SW of York.

It was a spectacular sight in the binos, about 18 degrees to the right of
Venus, and maybe one degree lower. The nucleus was bright and clearly
diffuse, with the coma surrounding it and forming a prominent tail about 15
degrees to the right of vertical. I would estimate the magnitude was
similar to that of Jupiter, given the nearby Venus as a comparison. The
tail was clear even with the naked eye and as the sky darkened it grew even
more obvious. The clouds finally won after 5pm, but I was happy, if not
frozen in the gusty cold wind. A fellow York AS member phoned me to say he
had some video footage taken from the middele of York (from a 5th floor
building), so we may add an image to the York AS web site tomorrow.

Hope others had similar good fortune with the clouds tonight.


Very best wishes and clear, dark skies.

--

Paul B, York, UK.

York Astronomical Society
www.yorkastro.co.uk
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