Perkil8r Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Had a quick go with the bino's at trying to find this here comet a few folks might have mentioned. First off with the Boots 10 x 50's cast iron emergency bino's that I keep down the shed. The moon was of course very bright which was never going to help the situation but the temperature was well below zero. As soon as I put them anywhere near my face they dewed up. I cleared them, tried again, same trouble so gave up with that idea. Left it an hour or so and dug out the Bushnell 10 x 50's from out of the scope store. I whacked them on the radiator for a while to get them warm in an attempt to keep the dew off for a bit. Went out and focused up on the Moon. This probably wasn't the "brightest" idea as it is not exactly the best thing for dark adaption so moved on. Drawing a line between Betelgeuse and through Mintaka. Using this line I went about as far as from Mintaka to Rigel away from Rigel (not that the description makes much sense) and had a scout about. There it was. Just a faint smudge, quite large in some respects and quite defuse. Upon using averted vision I think I was just about able to define a small amount of shape up and to the left which will have been the very small hint of a tail. The Moon is really washing the life out of it. I had a quick squint at M42/43 and saw nothing. A very brief look at Jupiter and saw Ganymede and Callisto down to the left and Europa up to the right. Upon checking Io would just about have been visible but in Bino's it would appear as though not due to it being so close to Jupiter. All in all only about 10 or so minutes out there, but the bino's stayed clear long enough to do what I had intended to do, so on that point I am happy. I am looking forward to having another go later in the week / month as it hopefully brightens and the Moon clears off a bit further away. BAZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Glad you found it Mike Should get a much better view when the moon is out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perkil8r Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 I have the first outreach group of the year in on Thursday, I'm hoping it is clear and we have a chance to try for it in the 16"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Marvellous, that should give an awesome view Hoping you have a superb night on Thursday, and looking forward to hearing about it. BAZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Even with moon on full beam able to pick out using binos from dark site at top of Llanfairfechan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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