maroubra_boy
sage
Reged: 09/08/09
Loc: Sydney, Australia
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Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
#5680802 - 02/15/13 08:01 AM Attachment (56 downloads)
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Hi all,
Tonight's close encounter of Comet Lemmon and 47 Tuc was an opportunity that couldn't go by unviewed. I'm sure that the photophiles will be busy tonight too.
I went a bit stir crazy tonight too. I set up two scopes tonight knowing that with a larger aperture the duo wouldn't be possible to view at the same time. So I set up my 8" f/4 dob and my 80mm f/5 refractor.
The first sketch is with the 8" at 80X using a 10m XW. Not only was the comet brighter than I saw last week, but its tail was also easier to tease out. It's a long thin ribbon that extends out from the nucleus, the coma and hydrogen cloud giving the comet a big 'head'.
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maroubra_boy
sage
Reged: 09/08/09
Loc: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5680804 - 02/15/13 08:03 AM Attachment (46 downloads)
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BEHOLD! THE MIGHTY SMALL APERTURE.
I was in for a double surprise with the 80mm refractor. I used a 36mm Aspheric Hyperion here as it gives me a full 6degree TFOV - massive! Here, the advantage of a small aperture over a large one in a heavily light polluted enviroment became evident. A large aperture makes the background sky glow too intense in urban areas, making low power a difficult proposition. Yet, a smaller aperture isn't affected the same way, making low power more practical. The result here was that at 11X I could also make out the tail.
The second surprise was that just squeezing into the FOV is the smaller globular cluster NGC 362. Sadly, the SMC that would be in the FOV is just overwhelmed by the Sky Glow, even in a small scope.
In the second sketch, Lemmon is at the lower right, 47 Tuc is in the centre, and 362 is in the top left.
Both sketches took about 1/2 hr to complete.
Alex.
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SteelStar
member
Reged: 11/08/09
Loc: Oklahoma
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5681191 - 02/15/13 11:16 AM
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Those sketches are awesome!  Really like the second wide field view. Well done. 
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niteskystargazer
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/05/09
Loc: 41-43'-28" N 87-42'-39" W
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5681235 - 02/15/13 11:35 AM
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Alex,
Good capture of Comet Lemmon  .
CS,KLU,
 ,
Tom
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chrisrnuttall
Professor Emeritus
Reged: 12/29/10
Loc: York, England
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: niteskystargazer]
#5681888 - 02/15/13 04:20 PM
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nice tail!
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Jef De Wit
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/06/09
Loc: Hove, Belgium
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: chrisrnuttall]
#5683048 - 02/16/13 09:34 AM
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Two fine sketches. Interesting to see them side by side. Alex, could you send this comet to the north, please? And some good weather too?
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PeterDob
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/05
Loc: Carù, Italy
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Jef De Wit]
#5683446 - 02/16/13 12:42 PM
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Oh... Alex... it feels like I could almost touch the comet! Your drawings are so subtle and realistic that they're just as good as the real thing. Well, almost... hehehe... 
Peter
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Achernar
Postmaster
Reged: 02/25/06
Loc: Mobile, Alabama, USA
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5683466 - 02/16/13 12:51 PM
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Very good drawings, especially the one that is a closer view of the comet.
Taras
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frank5817
Postmaster
Reged: 06/13/06
Loc: Illinois
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Achernar]
#5683661 - 02/16/13 02:43 PM
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Alex,
How wonderful these comet sketches are. The tail nicely captured by both scopes and the globular cluster in the second small scope sketch. It just does not get better than this my friend.
Frank
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Special Ed
Postmaster
Reged: 05/18/03
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: frank5817]
#5683978 - 02/16/13 06:03 PM
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Alex,
Congratulations on both sketches--very well done.
The high power view is an excellent observation of the comet but the lower power wide field view really puts Comet Lemmon in context in the night sky.
I always go back and forth about these different views, but when a comet is passing nearby a well known DSO, you have to try to include them. In this case you succeeded by doing both.
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Tassydevil
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/17/11
Loc: Tasmania, Australia
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Special Ed]
#5686204 - 02/17/13 11:40 PM
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Very nice Alex.
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Aperturefever
super member
Reged: 12/12/10
Loc: Lake Macquarie, Australia
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Tassydevil]
#5686270 - 02/18/13 12:25 AM
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Nice job, Alex. I do like the close-up especially. I've had lots of localised cloud on this end of the freeway of an eveining, unfortunately, but would love to get the 80mm Stellarvue pointed at this after seeing your sketch.
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maroubra_boy
sage
Reged: 09/08/09
Loc: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Aperturefever]
#5686394 - 02/18/13 03:04 AM
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Thank you all for your comments.
Jef, I know the feeling, my friend. Never ending cloud every time the New Moon comes around, or it's clear only during the full Moon when there are not many distinguishing features on it. GRRRR!
Michael, my sentiments exactly. I had seen a chart of Lemmon's path & my instant thought when I saw how close it was to get to the giant Globular was "My, oh man! I gotta get this one! Bet the bloody clouds will come in though", 
Thankfully it didn't.
Aperture, you're gonna get a kick out of using your 80mm
If I'm disappointed about anything it's that I didn't get to this sketch under a dark sky. Gee, that really would have been something.
Alex.
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Ed D
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/30/10
Loc: Sunny South Florida
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5686500 - 02/18/13 07:31 AM
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I really like the second sketch showing the comet in the sky setting that includes 47 Tucanae. Both beautiful sketches.
Ed D
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Special Ed
Postmaster
Reged: 05/18/03
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5688367 - 02/19/13 06:26 AM
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Quote:
Hi all,
Tonight's close encounter of Comet Lemmon and 47 Tuc was an opportunity that couldn't go by unviewed. I'm sure that the photophiles will be busy tonight too...Not only was the comet brighter than I saw last week, but its tail was also easier to tease out. It's a long thin ribbon that extends out from the nucleus, the coma and hydrogen cloud giving the comet a big 'head'.
Alex,
You were, of course, correct about the imagers. Here's a pic posted on Spaceweather. What a sky you folks have!
The image demonstrates how well you rendered the bulbous appearance of the coma and the tail necking down and streaming away.
Any chance you'll see and sketch Comet PanSTARRS? Here in the northern hemisphere we're hoping to get a look at this bad boy come early March.
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maroubra_boy
sage
Reged: 09/08/09
Loc: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Special Ed]
#5688422 - 02/19/13 07:53 AM
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Michael, that image of Lemmon would have been taken not too long after my sketch - I can tell from its position relative to bright star that sits between it and 47 Tuc.
The globular NGC 362 in the photo forms a wide equilateral triangle with Lemmon. From home, I just couldn't make out ANY of the SMC which is to prominent in the photo. A light pollution filter of some kind would have brought out the nebulosity, but it wouldn't have helped with the comet.
Panstarrs is a bugger of a comet. It dips below the horizon early evening only to reappear early morning. So unless you have a clear view of the horizon, Panstarrs isn't much of a proposition right now. All the same, here's a link to Panstarr's movements in a thread in Ice In Space.
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Scanning4Comets
Markus
Reged: 12/26/04
Loc: Deep Space!
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: maroubra_boy]
#5706674 - 03/01/13 06:47 AM
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Nice sketches Alex! 
Cheers,
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markseibold
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/19/08
Loc: Portland Oregon
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: Scanning4Comets]
#5707400 - 03/01/13 03:52 PM
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Alex - Your Beautiful sketch work is very realistic to actual eyepiece observation of these deep sky objects. Have you ever sent your work to www.spaceweather.com ? I think you would do a great service to the world to show others what the real live observation of a dim and barely naked eye comet appears as in the sky or through modest optics. The general public is of course always wowed by big eye candy comets when they hit the news but many will not see these subtle yet beautiful events through optics like astronomers do. I have observed perhaps over two dozen comets now since my father showed me my first in 1957, a bright naked eye Comet Mrkos or Arend-Roland in 1957 in the evening sky when I was just three.
I was in the Fiji Islands for three trips in Oct 2003 ~ Jan, June 2004. On the final trip i took a 10 inch Dobsonian. I'll never forget observing 47 Tuc on the first trip with only a 5 inch Cassegrain. But that last trip I observed Omega Centari through the 10 inch Dob. I am really envious of you guys, so lucky to reside that far south. Your sketches here today rekindled the memories of my trips to Fiji back then. Thank you for sharing your passion of beautiful sketch work.
*PS- I agree with Jef de Wit - Could you steer that comet to the north a little? 
- Mark Seibold, Portland Oregon
Edited by markseibold (03/01/13 03:55 PM)
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Andrev
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/08/11
Loc: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Re: Two more views of Comet Lemmon.
[Re: markseibold]
#5707464 - 03/01/13 04:40 PM
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Alex
Please stop teasing us like that. It's so beautiful, just like we were looking through your scope. Man this is two really nice sketches. Can't stop admiring them. Lucky guy to have this view. You are so talented.
Andre
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