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Post by martinastro on Apr 1, 2008 19:19:11 GMT
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Post by brianb on Apr 1, 2008 21:31:11 GMT
Yes, Chen-Gao is nicely visible in 8" LX90, and fairly easy to photograph. As I reported elsewhere, Holmes is getting very hard - I failed completely to find it on March 30 although I did manage to capture a very faint image of its "ghost". Wirtanen seems to have faded very fast, I only just managed to glimpse it on March 30 in excellent conditions.
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Post by martinastro on Apr 15, 2008 15:32:36 GMT
The BAA are giving Boattini at mag +2.0 at perihelion.
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Post by brianb on Apr 15, 2008 22:40:42 GMT
Certainly isn't 2.0 yet ... I've just failed to find it at all in 8" LX90; sky reasonably transparent but bright moonlight is a serious impediment. Whilst I was searching a very faint satellite (?) (approx mag 10) crossed the field of the scope, the angular motion rate would have been about 0.5 deg per minute.
The current position is low, but not horribly so, in the South, in the general vicinity of Spica.
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Post by martinastro on Apr 16, 2008 14:50:54 GMT
I haven't seen this comet yet myself, Alan Hale describes it as diffuse despite its bright magnitude. Looks like aperture effect is playing a big role on this comet. I might just give it a go tonight but with this bright Moon in the sky I don't feel confident of success. I will have a serious search for it when the Moon wanes.
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Post by brianb on May 6, 2008 14:08:34 GMT
May 5th - As twilight faded the sky was unusually transparent in the SSW and I decided to have another go at imaging Comet C2007/W1 Boattini, now at dec. -22 degrees and heading rapidly for the horizon. Got it with 10 exposures each 30 sec, 300mm f/4 with 091 "Redhancer" filter removing most of the artificial light pollution from Coleraine.  This was taken with the camera piggybacked on my 8" LX90, using the computer to locate the comet - which I couldn't see in the scope! Whilst the camera was busy taking the images used to generate the stack shown above, I had a careful search using 15x70 binoculars and just managed to glimpse the comet, rather uncertainly at that. It certainly isn't an easy optical target from this far North! By the end of the last exposure the comet was practically setting below my false horizon. Just as an illustration, this is the whole of the last sub exposure, shrunk a bit more than the main image:  The comet is only just visible, and the sky fog is pronounced. Isn't DSS wonderful? Boattini is now heading rapidly for the twilight zone; I doubt very much I'll see it again before it re-emerges as a morning object. |
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