Cometblogging

[andrew_jorgensen]

Tonight was the first reasonably clear night Cleveland's had in a week, so I took a look at the heretofore hyped comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT). There was far too much ambient light for me to ever get a naked-eye view, but I did locate it with binoculars. It's just a tiny little dim blotch -- not even third magnitude, I'd guess, and if it has any tail at all, it's unrecognizable through Cleveland's light pollution. (To be fair, though haze wasn't visible, I wasn't seeing a whole lot of stars through even the binoculars.) Disappointed with the view, I hauled out the light-bucket, my 5-inch Newtonian. It took me at least fifteen minutes to get the telescope pointed at the right object, but it was clear that I had found the comet when I did -- it was very distinctly an indistinct smudge, about three times the apparent diameter of Jupiter.

Perhaps there are better views where people have access to appreciable darkness, but my experience with the comet was underwhelming (yeah, yeah, cactuswatcher). Still, I'm glad I spent the time establishing that I wouldn't have regretted not spending the time. I ended the session with a quick peek at Jupiter and two of its moons -- an old favorite, easily found.

Comments

Sigh

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I have impossible light problems from a neighborhood park in the evening, so it was hopeless for me to see anything of NEAT. I tried to see LINEAR a while back before dawn, but we had too much of a combination of haze and moonlight. Glad you got to see something. And Jupiter is always worth a look.

Re: Sigh

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

Jupiter is, isn't it?

I was wondering if I should have made an attempt for the Beehive Cluster (which the comet was near last night), but I had so few reference stars I didn't think I would succeed.

Update

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

No baseball tonight so the lights went out early in the park. I still didn't see the comet. Venus was monstrous on the northwest horizon, and Jupiter bright near the zenith. Drug out my scope for a minute to look at Jupiter. I could clearly see three moons tonight, maybe my seeing was a little better, maybe I was using less power so I had a wider field of view.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I've had some pretty good luck seeing astronomical phenomena even here in the big city. Of course, there's an observatory in the Oakland hills I've been two a couple times. Good for seeing the polar icecaps on Mars and the rings of Saturn and some other cool stuff. But there are amateur astronomers who set up their hand-made telescopes down in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco - good enough to see the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. That was awesome.

I'm looking forward to seeing the broad scope of the Milky Way with the naked eye up in Guernville when I go camping this summer. Saw Mars pretty well up there too, when it was making its close pass to the Earth last summer.

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite astronomical experiences was outside Café du Monde on Jackson Square in New Orleans, where someone had set up a telescope pointed at Saturn and was letting pedestrians have a look -- I don't think you can get much more light polluted than the French Quarter, and Saturn was spectacular.

Mars was wonderful last year. Enjoy the Milky Way!

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

That was the circumstances where I saw Jupiter's moons. Someone just showing it to passers-by on the street. I was on my way back to my car from having drinks with friends. It was very cool!

On top of a parking garage

[ann1962]

The astronomy department here has a large telescope on top of a parking garage of all places. Every week in the summer they open it to the public and when Saturn was being viewed we went. Two summers ago I think. Incredibly clear and sharp image it was.

Re: On top of a parking garage

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Very cool! I love astronomy!

[rebekahroxanna.livejournal.com]

I don't have a lot of patience with telecsopes. My favorites are camping out in Wyoming and seeing all those stars. Not much light pollution, a higher elevation, really great. The southern cross over the Serengetti. And, of course, two solar eclipses. (Saving up for that really long one in a couple of years.) I really like lunar eclipses, bloody moon and all that. It is awesome to watch the moon turn blood red. Oh, and whatever that comet was a few years ago that you really could see with the naked eye. I watched it while driving through either southern Indiana or Ohio. I still want to see northern lights.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

I like lunar ecilipses as well. We just missed one that was on the other side of the world last week.

Like most people I've only seen partial solar elipses. I can remember a decade ago we got out of work for a few mintues to go outside for one that was maybe 70& total. People were standing around waiting for a turn to look into one of the few shadow boxes people had prepared. Then I noticed the ground all around us. Every place light was coming through the leaves on the tress there were nicely sized crescents of light that everybody could enjoy at once.

Solar Eclipses

[rebekahroxanna.livejournal.com]

My first solar eclipse was happenstance. We were vacationing in Bonaire during a solar eclipse. The northern part of the island was going to have 3 to 4 seconds of totality. In curacao, there was about a minute of totality in the northern part of the island. So I bought air tickets and reserved a car for the day. We left Bonaire a sunny day and arrive in the rain in Curacao. We also got the very last rental car on the island. People were lining up to rent them and every last one was gone. (I had had to rent through a small local rental agency a couple of months before because all the majors were rented up.) We drove north without a map or plan until we saw lots of cars parked. We found a parking place and scrambled down to the beach. Several hundred eclipse chasers were set up with telescopes. Finally about the time the eclipse was to start the sky cleared. The first part of the eclipse is generally boring. Then the air temperature drops. I went snorkling while we were waiting and the fish seemed unaffected. Totality is awesome, unlike a partial eclipse. The sky is as dark as twilight, the stars appear. Everything quietens. There is absolutely no sound from anyone or anything. It is a religious experience. You wait for the diamond ring and then totality. Then when totality ends a massive cheer goes up. And there is a sense of togetherness with total strangers, all who have shared this experience.

It was such a great experience that d'H and I chased another one the next year, with a little more totality on the Black Sea. I thought about the 2005 one, but it's so far from anything. The one tour I saw spends a total of 5 days at sea which is more than I have patience for. So I'm waiting for one across Asia with maximum totality at Iwo Jima. i'm hoping to find a good package for that one.

Re: Solar Eclipses

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

Speaking of this, do you have the Turkey slides? And if you do, would you scan in the eclipse ones for me?

(We had about 3:30 of totality on Curacao.)

Re: Solar Eclipses

[rebekahroxanna.livejournal.com]

I'll check. I imagine I do. Right now I am not a happy camper. My airport and my printer died. I think they got fried by lightning, though they were hooked in a surge protector and the cable modem was in the same surge protector and appear to be fine. (Actually it must be since I am hooked into it).

Re: Solar Eclipses

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

Have you tried power cycling?

Of course you have.

I remember this one

[ann1962]

It would have been in the early 90's when we were in IN. Everyone went outside as well. I was shocked, surprised and thrilled with the double shadows on the ground. The leaves in particular were shimmery and wonderful as it was a very bright day.

Re: I remember this one

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

Stephen Jay Gould wrote a nice essay (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/dinosaur.htm) about that eclipse.