Location: Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: none
Transparency: clear
Seeing: good (4/5)
Darkness: city sky glow, before moonrise
Limiting Magnitude: n/a
Wind: mild/none
Humidity: 75%-80%
Temperature: mid-50’s
Start Time: 8:00 pm CST
End Time: 10:00 pm CST
Instrument: 8″ SC, 25mm and 10mm ep’s
Observed comet 17P Holmes, unusual. Nucleus visible as tiny disc in center. Circular coma offset from nucleus, but low-contrast halo centered around nucleus.
Low temp + high humidity = early dew.
Last night I observed comet McNaught from about 6:00 pm to 6:15 pm through light cloud cover. It was not visible to the unaided eye due to the clouds. A light but steady wind vibrated the telescope, so the best view was actually through binoculars. The nucleus and tail were both clearly visible. It was a beautiful thing to see; the orange glow of the sunset and the gray streaks of clouds provided an otherworldly setting.
Amanda, Roy, and I met on the top of a parking garage — we had to be up high to see the horizon over the trees. A guy named Toby also came out after hearing about the comet from a friend. The weather was chilly but not uncomfortably cold. Amanda was the first to spot the comet in the binoculars, a fact that she won’t soon let me forget!
The telescope was my 75mm Bushnell. The Hepcat Observatory forecasted poor seeing conditions, and when I used Venus to focus it seemed to swim with multiple images. The image of the comet was hazy even in brief periods of no wind, as much from the clouds I suspect as from atmospheric turbulence.
The new Bushnell 12×50’s performed much better than my old cheap binoculars. Better optics, better collimation.
Local weather forecasts call for heavy cloud cover the next several nights, so no more McNaught for me. Glad I took the opportunity to see it last night!
Comet? Clouds! I didn’t see McNaught! Maybe tonight will be better for observing.
After some more digging I read that the time to look for the comet is 20 to 40 minutes after sunset. Check weather.com for the exact time of sunset in your location.
Comet McNaught should be visible just above the horizon WSW, low and to the right of Venus.
I did get a good look at Venus last night. It was in and out of the clouds. And my wife reminded me that even if we didn’t get to see the comet, we did get to watch a beautiful sunset.
There is a very bright comet observable just before sunrise and just after sunset. I only learned about it today, and from what I’ve read it’s fairly bright, but you have to have an unobstructed view of the horizon to see it.
You can read more about comet McNaught at NASA’s “Astronomy Picture of the Day” web site:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070109.html
and also on Sky & Telescope’s web site:
http://skytonight.com/observing/home/5118926.html
I would love to hear from anyone who catches a glimpse of this comet! I’ll be looking for it, too, and record my observations here.
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