15 replies to this topic

[Rankinstudio]

Not sure if anyone here has posted about this. Very significant:

 

https://minorplanetc...K19/K19RA6.html

 

 

JPL has the eccentricity around 3.5

 

 

Goes without saying, this is spectacular. This comet could do anything, probably worth keeping an eye on.

 

Cheers!

David Rankin

 

[nicoledoula]

It's amazing how the planets and even the Oort cloud spiral around and follow the Sun through space at 490,000 mph. 

[brebisson]

Hello,

 

Does anyone have magnitude information on this comet? Also a sky chart so that non assisted visual observers could find it (if mag is large enough)?

 

All I could find was the heliocentric drawing, but no "day by day" sky chart position :-(

 

Cyrille

[mashirts]

These seem to be projections from the website link provided. On Oct 11 still magnitude 16.9: Going to be a while till I start looking. I think they are still gathering data.

2019 09 10 08 47 10.9 +30 33 05 3.4158 2.7550 42.3 14.2 18.1
2019 09 11 08 49 03.3 +30 14 38 3.3939 2.7401 42.7 14.4 18.0
2019 09 12 08 50 55.8 +29 55 57 3.3720 2.7252 43.1 14.6 18.0
...
2019 09 18 09 02 09.7 +27 58 24 3.2411 2.6379 45.6 15.8 17.8
...
2019 09 26 09 17 06.1 +25 06 19 3.0687 2.5262 49.0 17.4 17.5
...
2019 10 11 09 44 54.3 +18 49 59 2.7575 2.3347 55.1 20.5 16.9

A. U. Tomatic © Copyright 2019 MPC

[CharlesC]

Hello,

 

Does anyone have magnitude information on this comet? Also a sky chart so that non assisted visual observers could find it (if mag is large enough)?

 

All I could find was the heliocentric drawing, but no "day by day" sky chart position :-(

 

Cyrille

 

Mag 18 and heading our way out of Cassiopeia.  They are still trying to chart its path.

https://www.cloudyni...ra-solar-comet/

Edited by CharlesC, 12 September 2019 - 05:01 AM.

[RedLionNJ]

Use Horizons - it knows all about it -

 

https://ssd.jpl.nasa...orizons.cgi#top

 

C/2019 Q4

 

Generate your own ephemeris

[Rankinstudio]

You can also use MPC to generate ephemeris

 

https://minorplanetc...PEph/MPEph.html

[roelb]

https://theskylive.c...4-info#elements

[Pcbessa]

Comet is predicted to reach magnitude 15 around early Dec.

It will be a challenging target for many reasons.

 

1. You need a large aperture probably. In theory it should be visible albeit faintly on a 15inch telescope, and more confortably on a 20inch telescope. And within the realm of possibility (but likely not visible) on a 10inch telescope with pristine skies (which is my case). But that depends on the condensation of the coma, which so far remains quite condensed. 

 

2. Short time of opportunity to observe it in early December. The perihelion is 7th Dec but by then the moon is just becoming full (and the comet rapidly going into southern latitudes), so best to watch it in the first few days of Dec (the New Moon is 26 Nov, the full Moon is 12 Dec). So the window of opportunity is quite narrow, and we all know the unstable weather of December. The magnitude is currently 17, so it will probably reach magnitude 16 throughout most of November.

 

3. Comet unfavorable for northern observers. The comet will pass south of Leo, and then east of Hydra near the Antenna galaxies. Having it rather south and low on horizon does not make it easy also for northern observers.

 

4. You must set up your alarm clock! Finally, the time to see it will be around 4-5am in the morning, coupled with the cold weather, it will make it rather challenging, as observers will need to set their alarms and face the cold nights of December, and probably drive to a darker location!

 

The good thing is that cold nights tend to have crispy weather.

 

https://www.skyandte...rstellar-comet/

 

Anyone up for the challenge?

Edited by Pcbessa, 14 October 2019 - 02:48 PM.

[Achernar]

Comet is predicted to reach magnitude 15 around early Dec.

It will be a challenging target for many reasons.

 

1. You need a large aperture probably. In theory it should be visible albeit faintly on a 15inch telescope, and more confortably on a 20inch telescope. And within the realm of possibility (but likely not visible) on a 10inch telescope with pristine skies (which is my case). But that depends on the condensation of the coma, which so far remains quite condensed. 

 

2. Short time of opportunity to observe it in early December. The perihelion is 7th Dec but by then the moon is just becoming full (and the comet rapidly going into southern latitudes), so best to watch it in the first few days of Dec (the New Moon is 26 Nov, the full Moon is 12 Dec). So the window of opportunity is quite narrow, and we all know the unstable weather of December. The magnitude is currently 17, so it will probably reach magnitude 16 throughout most of November.

 

3. Comet unfavorable for northern observers. The comet will pass south of Leo, and then east of Hydra near the Antenna galaxies. Having it rather south and low on horizon does not make it easy also for northern observers.

 

4. You must set up your alarm clock! Finally, the time to see it will be around 4-5am in the morning, coupled with the cold weather, it will make it rather challenging, as observers will need to set their alarms and face the cold nights of December, and probably drive to a darker location!

 

The good thing is that cold nights tend to have crispy weather.

 

https://www.skyandte...rstellar-comet/

 

Anyone up for the challenge?

I have a 15-inch Dob, and although it would be high enough to see from my area, I doubt I would be able to find it with that telescope due to light pollution and the fact it will likely be of very low surface brightness. Getting images of it with a CCD camera on the other hand would probably be possible however. Who knows, perhaps the next interstellar comet will pass close to Earth and be favorably positioned for us to see it, and it will also be at least bright enough to get a good look at it in small telescopes for a few weeks.

 

Taras

Edited by Achernar, 14 October 2019 - 04:12 PM.

[Rankinstudio]

Here is a shot I got from Southern AZ in light polluted skies with a 12" F4 scope.

 

 

OTA: 12" F4
Mount: EQ8
Cam: Canon 6D unmodified
Imgs: 25 x 30sec bin2

 

Cheers

[kbev]

Nice capture David!  I'm hoping to try for this sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll haul my gear out east of the valley to a darker site and give it a go.  

[Rankinstudio]

Nice capture David!  I'm hoping to try for this sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll haul my gear out east of the valley to a darker site and give it a go.  

Right on. I shot this from within Tucson (east side near Saguaro). Don't have to have a super dark site for V17.

 

Let me know if you need any assistance getting locations / times ect. 

 

Cheers

[kbev]

Let me know if you need any assistance getting locations / times ect. 

 

I'm good on that end, I just went to the MPC site and downloaded the current elements then loaded them into Stellarium; I also checked SkySafari on my phone and it had already updated to include the comet.

 

My main reason for traveling is that from my back yard my view is blocked by some tall trees that my neighbor has (which I would dearly love to trim back as they drop seeds in my yard).  I'm going to take my C6/CG5 combo out and give it a go, if that doesn't work I'll bite the bullet and haul the CGEM and 10" Meade out (but I hope it doesn't come to that).  I'm hoping that my 224MC can go deep enough but I'll have my 1100D if I need it.  It will be quite the fun challenge 

[555aaa]

It's interesting that there's no condition code for the orbit on the JPL website but I suppose that's not surprising. At least their code can handle objects with hyperbolic "orbits" (not really an orbit I suppose).

 

Currently plenty bright but inconveniently located behind solid rock at my observatory. All the good stuff is in the east, so I have a good view to the W horizon.

[Rankinstudio]

I think it is partly based on how long the observational arc is.

 

There is a quality code for Oumuamua.  

https://minorplanetc...=✓&object_id=1I

Oumuamua also experienced some non-gravs, so I'd think at some point they'll post a quality code for Borisov. 

 

Here's a comparison of their orbits.