philjay Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Last night I wanted to bag the Comet Lovejoy both visually and imaging. So initially I tried with the 9x63 binos and could not figure out why I couldn't find it, it was supposed to be around mag 4 and a bit after all. I relented and had a look at the finder charts in an astro magazine and soon realised I was way off track, the comet was much higher and now in Taurus. I retried and there it was, quite big really. The binos didn't reveal any tail and I could not make out any colour but it was nice to be able to tick this off my list. I managed to bag it with a camera as well, report here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/9300-lovejoy-100115-widefield/#entry103549 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Glad you've seen it Phil Since it is moving across the sky so quickly I needed to keep familiarising myself with the latest position and finding new pointer stars. If it had been passing through the middle of Orion it would have been so easy with bright stars everywhere to help locate it. Edited January 11, 2015 by Tweedledee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Yeah its belting along Pete, it surprised me as to how high it was. Its in quite a sparse area as well at the moment as you say so it takes a little scanning with bins to get it but its very bright. Naked eye I could just make it out with averted vision from here but I reckon it would be easy from a darker site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Was certainly more difficult to find last night in bins and in the scope. Wasn't quite where I expected even though I'd just updated the info in stellarium. Had to resort to a little hunting with the finderscope but then stored the Ra and Dec in the handset to make it easier to find after focusing on a brighter star. As for how fast it's moving my video here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/index.php?/topic/9309-A-short-timelapse-of-Lovejoy-showing-lovejoy's-path shows its motion over a couple of hours or so. Later on in the week there is a really nice widefield opportunity with a 50-70mm on a dslr as it passes near the Pleiades 16th-19th. Been planning on stellarium but may be away and don't quite have the right kit to mount and track dslr only. May have a go though if it's clear Thursday/Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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