Finally Seen Comet Lulin

Last night, after waiting most of the week (and being defeated by cloud), I finally got to see comet Lulin.

There was no sign of it with the naked eye but I could see it (after a little bit of searching) with my 10x50 binocular, and also with my 20x60 monocular. Not the most impressive of comets, at least not at this point. There was some obvious elongation, but I wouldn't say I could see any kind of tail. There wasn't any obvious "concentration" to it at all, it was more of a large ghostly colourless patch than anything else.

Comet Perseid

No, really, that's not a typo. Keep an eye out for Comet Perseid.

;-)

Seen via a post on the SPA BB.

Comet Holmes Still Naked Eye Object?

Last Saturday I managed to get out for my first "proper" observing session in a while. I had a pretty good night and managed to get views of Mars, M42, Saturn and M81 and M81.

But that wasn't the best part. The best part was the bit when I spotted something odd near Algol:

While stood looking at the Double Cluster with the naked eye I spotted something close by, near Algol, that appeared to be about the same size and of a similar brightness to it. Initially I was confused about what it was. I quickly grabbed my monocular and had a look and could see that it was a faint but noticeable misty patch. Given that I wasn't aware of any object in that location, and given that I couldn't find any such thing on my charts (not that I expected to — I'd have known about such an object if it were a "fixed" item in the sky), I suspected that it was comet Holmes.

Further visual checks at the time and checks with online charts for Holmes suggest that I really was seeing the comet.

This genuinely surprised me. It's been a while since I last observed it and I'd assumed that it wouldn't be visible to the naked eye any more, that it might even have faded beyond a point where I'd be able to observe it with any of my equipment.

Anyone else out there still seeing it this way?

Also, totally aside from the above, I also decided to try something a little different (for me) in terms of astrophotography (not that I do much astrophotography). I took along my Lomo Lubitel 166B, loaded with Ilford FP+ 125, and during the observing session had it pointing at various parts of the sky for around ½ hour at a time. I've no idea what, if anything, I'm going to get out of it, but I needed to use up some frames on the film and the chance to do some astrophotography with a TLR, on black and white medium-format form, was too good to pass up.

Heck, if it turns out reasonably well I might give it a go with colour next time. Might even mount the 166B on the back of the 130M and use its drive to go for some non-trailed shots.

You could fill a book... Part III

My short session observing comet Holmes a couple of evenings ago was also another little milestone for me. I finally filled my third log book.

This third book has taken quite a long time to fill. I filled the second one just over a year ago and it took less than a year from me filling the first one.

The main reason for this is that observing has been quite slow this year. While I've done a fair bit of solar observing, evening/night observing sessions have been few and far between. When I got out to observe comet Holmes back on Monday that was the first non-solar session since May!

The reasons are many and varied, but most revolve around weather, some illness and, now and again, a lack of motivation. Something "special" in the sky is always a good motivator and the summer months were totally devoid of anything to observe that was "special" (yes, Jupiter was about, but was so low that you generally couldn't see it from my garden).

Thankfully Holmes has given me that taste again, got me back into that habit.

It was good to have a 'scope out again last night and I think I've finally got that bug back again.

More Comet Holmes

Last night I finally had the chance to get the Antares 905 out and have a quick session observing Comet Holmes.

Much as I expected it was more impressive in the 'scope than it was in the binocular. It was interesting to see how different it looked at different magnifications and how subtle details in the structure of the coma seemed more obvious at one magnification than at another.

The view I had was generally very reminiscent of Tim's photographs of it from a couple or so days back (which remind me a lot of the binocular view I've had), or Joe's amazing sketch of it. However, unlike Joe's sketch, I couldn't see any hint of a tail whatsoever. I do notice that there was a significant different in brightness of the outer ring of the coma on one side when compared to the other and that does seem to correspond with where Joe has drawn the tail he was seeing.

I've not written up my notes yet, I should be doing that in the next day or so.

If you own a binocular, or even a modest telescope, and you've not had them out to look at the comet yet, do so while you've still got the chance. It's a very easy object to find and it's a very rewarding view.

Finally! A View of Comet Holmes!

Typical, isn't it? For the few days since news of comet Holmes started doing the rounds it's been cloudy here. Last night I needed to be out for part of the evening, not getting back home until at least 20:30.

Guess what.

Yes, that's right, it's was nice and clear.

However, even while I was out busy doing the thing I needed to be doing I could see that something was wrong in Perseus. I could see there was a star there that shouldn't be there and, unless my eyes were playing tricks on me, it was just a little "fuzzy" when compared to other stars.

When I finally got home it was still clear, just. A huge bank of cloud was rolling in from the west so I had about 15 minutes at the most to get a reasonable view of the comet. I grabbed the Meade 10x50s and headed out into the garden.

Wow!

Yes, I know, "wow" is one of those words that get easily used when something novel turns up in the sky. But, really, wow! It's quite a sight in the bins. Mostly it reminded me of a very bright planetary nebula, the view reminded me somewhat of when I've observed M57 (although, obviously, it was bigger, more circular, brighter and less ring-like — but you get the idea, right?).

Tonight is looking like it could be another clear night.

Guess what...

Comet Holmes

News of the outburst of comet P/Holmes (17P) sort of caught me out yesterday in that the first news I saw of it turned up just as I was finishing work for the day.

So, this morning saw me trying to catch up with various requests to add or update information on the SPA's website. I won't bother prattling on with all the details, all the usual suspects have already blogged about it some some length, but I just wanted to mention that a thread about the comet is under way on the SPA's BB.

Of course, where I live, it's cloudy and from what I can see at the moment there's little prospect of things clearing up in the next day or so. :-(

Astronomy Now, and some other bits

I had a parcel turn up today. In it was a copy of the March edition of Astronomy Now and a copy of the Astronomy Now 2007 Yearbook.

I hadn't ordered them.

This was AN's way of saying thanks for me letting them use a version of this post in an article of reports about Comet McNaught.

The free copy of the magazine was expected, but the free copy of the yearbook wasn't. I thought that was rather nice of them.

---

I've not done much in the way of observing in the past few weeks. I've not even managed much solar observing thanks to the weather. We did have a clear spell last night and I did wander out to have a look at the skies with a view to getting the EOS 400D out and possibly doing a little more constellation photography but cloud rolled in while I was assessing the sky.

Which sort of fits in nicely with the current news about Mira. It would be neat to get some shots off of that area of sky, then take some more later on down the line and compare the images.

Logs by comet

Now that I've observed a handful of comets I've got around to adding another way of getting at my logs: by comet.

There aren't that many there at the moment. Let's hope this situation improves this year.

The British Astrological Association

It must be a week for this sort of thing. Not only do we have one UK paper running an article about how comet McNaught will affect your love life, I now see from an article on the SPA BB that a report in The Telegraph about the BAA/CfDS/CPRE star count talks about the British Astrological Association.

Is it really too much to ask of the popular press that they treat the subject anything close to correctly?

No, that's okay, I know the answer to that question.

Comet of Destiny

From earlier:

Also, talking of Paul Sutherland, I guess I should mention my tabloid shame. ;-)

Just to be clear, I can't stand The Sun, it's an awful newspaper, truly awful — it feels wrong to even call it a newspaper, but...

Paul's a fellow admin on the SPA BB, when he asked if he could borrow some bits that I'd written about the comet for an article he was working on I was more than happy to oblige (even knowing where it might end up). Anything that gets a story about astronomy out, if it's done well, is worth supporting. I knew where the story might end up but, ahh, what the hell...

So, okay, the story as it ended up in the paper (and, yes, it is in the actual paper too, my mother will be so proud) is very short on detail, but at least it doesn't make stupid claims and doesn't misrepresent anything. It might just have got a few people to poke their heads outside during the evening and try and take a look. Unlike this pile of total nonsense in The Daily Mail.

I could rant on about that all afternoon, but I'll save myself the trouble and point to the Bad Astronomer's page dealing with astrology instead. Yes, I know, no regular reader will need to be told any of this, we all know that astrology is wrong, but you never know who might end up here via a search.

In comparison to that pile of total nonsense a story about a pub toilet seems very sensible.

Comet 2006 P1 McNaught Pt II

After a day of lots of cloud and near-damaging winds things cleared up a little into the evening so I took another stroll to the edge of the village to see if I could get another view of the comet.

Conditions weren't ideal, it was rather murky and there was a fair bit of cloud on the western horizon. Unlike the previous evening I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of the comet on the walk down, I only managed to see it once I got to the chosen observing location.

This time it took a few moments to find it, it was nowhere near as obvious as the day before. In a way it was kind of disappointing, but that's only because I'd been so spoilt by the previous view.

Over on the SPA BB Robin Scagell has posted a rather nice image from last night. Paul Sutherland has also posted an image that seems to give a good impression of how it looked to me last night (not as obvious as the previous night).

Also, talking of Paul Sutherland, I guess I should mention my tabloid shame. ;-)

Comet 2006 P1 McNaught

I've just got back into the office after having a wander out to the western edge of our village, hoping to catch a glimpse of comet 2006 P1 McNaught.

While having dinner I'd mentioned that I was going to go for a walk and have a look and my son asked to come along too. Given that he's not quite 5 and given that I'd be using a binocular my wife decided to come along too — the best place to observe is next to a reasonably busy road (especially busy around 17:00 or so due to people heading home from work) and that wouldn't be a good mix.

I'd told them both that I didn't quite know what to expect. From what I'd read so far I was expecting a small fuzzy comet, probably visible to the naked eye with some effort, but probably requiring that I find it in the 10x50s first. We got coats and hats and stuff on and started walking down the road. About ½ way to the edge of the village I saw something out of the corner of my eye, through some trees. I looked, did a double take, and then a triple take, and then almost said the sort of phrase a father shouldn't say in front of his child.

It was a comet! Not a little fuzzy thing, not the sort of thing I've struggled to find in binocular and telescope over the last year or so, this was a proper naked eye comet. Bright head, easy to see tail, skirting the horizon in a really nice looking sunset.

I was shocked and amazed. As was my wife and son. To be honest, it's hard to say who was most excited, although I think my son wins ("I've seen my first comet! I've seen my first comet!").

I won't bother even trying to relate any technical details, I wasn't really paying attention to it in that way. About all I managed was a quick estimate of the length of the tail (about 2 widths of my thumb, held at arms length) and that was about it. The best I could really manage was to just stand there, awestruck, repeating things like "oh wow", "that's huge!", "look at it! just look at it!" and other pointless variations on that theme.

Within around 10 minutes the head had set behind some trees and I watched the tail slowly set for a couple of minutes more.

I'm still really excited, I'm still feeling kind of shocked and moved by it. I'm still feeling very inadequate when it comes to trying to relate what I saw and how it felt to see it.

Don't you just love it when the Universe surprises you like that?

More comet M4 Swan

Last Friday night was another clear night so I managed to get out and view comet M4 Swan again. This time I got the 130M out to observe with and was rewarded with a pretty good view. I even had the time to attempt a little sketch too:

The full log of the observing session is available online.