2016u1 20161231 arobertson

An unexpected window this morning so wasn’t able to get the 24” up and running (would have taken too long) so used the trusty old 12” Mewlon instead. Observed from 3am until 6.30am. Looked at C/2015 V2 Johnson about 4.30am when it was quite high, noticeably fainter than when viewed through the 24” four mornings earlier. I could just detect the tail whereas in the 24” it hit me as soon as I put my eye to the e/p. My skies were quite good considering the forecast for thick cloud all night and this fog we’ve been having when it has been clear so to speak. I was getting 21.2 SQM overhead and mag 5.5 in UMi but it was a bit murky lower down below about 25 degs altitude. I got on C/2016 U1 just after 6am (later than intended) but then it was still very low in the murk at 14 degrees altitude. What I noticed in the smaller aperture was that the brighter core seemed smaller compared to the rest of the halo. Even in the brightening sky the comet filter did enhance the coma slightly. Didn’t make any estimates of size or brightness, just made a positional sketch (straight through – fully inverted).