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It was truly stunning Nick and by 2am the tail was getting on for 5 degrees long N/E. The views through binoculars (7×50 & 15×70’s) were very similar to your images. I reckon the best view was just between 2am and 2.15am BST; altitude v sky brightening.
Andrew
It was wonderful, just what a comet should look like. Got it initially below Theta Auriga in 7×50 bins at 2.30am (BST) when it was only 2 1/4 degs up. Used my tripod ladder with its legs fully extended to clear obstructions and get the view low down, my feet were 5 feet of the ground. After initial pick up switched to 15 x 70 bins. Observed until about 3.10 am when I did get a brief N/E glimpse but thereafter the sky started brightening so packed in at 3.15am.
Andrew, South Norfolk
Saw it visually in the 9×50 finder. Absolutely fantastic, crystal clear blue skies. A very large, very thin, very faint ghostly crescent moon with a tiny but very bright ‘c’ of a crescent Venus next to it. I watched the crescent of Venus get smaller and smaller until it pinged out of existence behind the moon. Despite 40 years of observing, sights like this never fail to grab me.
Andrew
Clouded out for re-appearance. Meant to say despite 50 years of observing….think that was a Freudian slip to disguise my age 🙂
Andrew
Hi Peter,
I’ve looked for it several times in my 24″ and failed so far. But as Owen says, we rarely get the pristine skies here in the UK to have a serious chance. I will still give it a go the next time I get a superlative night and it’s well placed.
Andrew
Hi David, yes altitude makes a real difference in these increasingly humid skies here in the UK. I try and avoid observing anything below 30 degrees altitude and travel to the Canaries for lower latitude objects. I often note that cameras seem to punch through the clagg better than visual but they are still affected. Re your excellent image, I note the double cluster is prominent but NGC 957 is barely noticeable as an OC and looks more like just a denser star field whereas in the 24″ it looked a decent cluster. Equally I can’t fit the double cluster in the big scope and need a much smaller scope for that.
Andrew
Had a visual this morning at 1.30am in my 60 cm F4.5. I thought it’s brightness was roughly (very) somewhere between GSC 293-0572, mag 13.4 and HIP 62022, mag 11.3.
Andrew
Had an excellent view last night of the comet in the same FOV as the lesser known mag 7.6 OC NGC 957 in Perseus last night. Nucleus of the comet only a 1/3 deg from the OC. Used my 60 cm F4.5 Newtonian with a 21mm Ethos e/p giving x129 and a 3/4 deg FOV. Glorious sight. The tail was at least 1/4 degree long, possibly up to 1/3 degree but always difficult to decide where they end visually, tail in a direction away from the cluster.
As a bonus had a look at C/2018 N2 but that was more difficult, couldn’t see it in the 21mm e/p but in the 13mm Ethos, direct vision, a small fuzzy disc. 8mm (x340) was too much, 10mm (x270) optimum.
Skies were claggy though due to high humidity, SQM 20.9, mag 5 N/E.
Andrew
Hi Gary, yes please, that will be fine re the charts 🙂 To be honest we’re getting so few clear skies now that I haven’t bothered uncovering my 24″ in 2 months. When there has been a few hours of ‘clear’ skies it’s either been with the moon up or high humidity – no use for low contrast, faint fuzzies. Had one decent 4 hour spell of mag 5.75 (SQM 21.35) skies in the last two months. Even doubles have been poor of late, milky skies and poor seeing so some VS observations might not be a bad idea.
Regards, Andrew
Hi Gary managed a view tonight 15 mins either side of moonrise and start of astro dark. Used 8 x 42 bins then my 4″ F9 Fluorite refractor with a 50mm Tak LE e/p giving x18 and almost 3 degrees FOV, but more importantly pin point star edges to the edge with this combo. Using your 5 degree chart, Chi was definitely brighter than C (mag 6.2) but very similar to B (mag 5.9) or if anything a tad brighter, the difficulty being the colour difference, Chi being reddish orange and B white. So I would put Chi at mag 5.9 to mag 5.8 tonight.
Andrew
Thanks Gary, although I’m not an avid VS observer I do have a casual interest and did observe the last maxima of Chi Cygni so good to be reminded of the next one, although getting a bit low down now.
Happy New Year, Andrew
I tried having a look for it visually in my 60 cm scope in the early hours of Monday (5am – 5.30am) but the skies were very humid and claggy, only SQM 20.95 overhead and mag 5 N/E so was no chance really at 20 degrees altitude but always worth having a go. Maybe another window tomorrow morning but again humidity forecast for 96% here in Norfolk. Andrew
Sent you an e-mail with my phone numbers Grant. I have three mounts with AWR drive systems, know them well.
Andrew
This is why Owen and I always maintain that reliable observations of VN have to be the domain of imaging and not visual. Visual observations are far more affected by seeing conditions than the camera and the above example shows how much a camera can be affected. I have observed Mr G visually a couple of times in the 24″ (not for some time now) but the view is always too tenuous to note any detail/change. As a visual dinosaur I have to concede the camera wins in this field 🙂
Andrew
Yes, but are the exposures similar enough to make a valid comparison. There are 4 faintish stars easily visible in the outer nebulosity of the March 4th image that are barely detectable in the 1st May image?
Andrew
I did get a visual sighting last night in my 12″ Mewlon but skies not the best, a bit claggy, NELM mag 5 to mag 5.5. Comparing to field stars I estimated it to be about mag 13.3. Comparison stars:
Brighter than GSC 01976-0429 mag 14.1
Fainter than GSC 01976-0815 mag 12.2
About the same as GSC 01976-0125 mag 13.3
Andrew
Clear at the start here in Norfolk. Saw the shadow edge moving across the moon all the way until 4.30am then total cloud cover. Saw a slither 5 mins later and that was it. Could see the part in shadow had a reddish hue but the effect was diminished somewhat with the bright edge. What always strikes me with this phenomenon is how obvious the curvature of the Earth’s shadow is and why the reason for this wasn’t realised by most of the ancient civilisations.
Andrew
P.S. Nice images Nick, I thought it would still be clear in Chelmsford, my cloud cover came in from the NW.
