55 replies to this topic

[joehudock]

Last night before the moon came up and the sky haze turned to clouds I was able to get the best views so far of the comet. Having it almost directly overhead was also a big help on the view but made getting there a little more work.

Finding the comet was pretty straightforward because it was only 1 degree away from Hassaleh between Capella and Mars and was pretty obvious in the RACI finder.

Even though the comet has supposedly dimmed an order of magnitude since the end of January it looked brighter without the moon light and with it being at a high elevation angle. I used mostly my 4 1/2 inch 500mm Sams Club reflector (but its on a recycled equatorial) and 10X50 Nikon binoculars. The comet looked about the same as with the Nikon in the 9X50 RACI. The Sams Club reflector showed the comet about 8 to 10 arc minutes in diameter with a brighter core and something of a really short fan shaped tail. But no green seen. Best view was at about 50X. At  80X the comet was getting washed out and faint. Needless to say a larger aperture would give a better look.

The comet was not visible naked eye for me. But then the eyes aren't what they used to be. I could see it in 7X35mm binoculars but it would have been hard to find  just using them without knowing where exactly the comet was located.

[Waynosworld]

I finally found this object, fact is I was not even looking for it in the correct area until I used that chart posted and my book showing Constellations, this object is moving fast.

 

I also was confused about what to look for as a few have mentioned they found it naked eye or with Binoculars, to me this is an averted vision object, when I look directly at it, it almost disappears, but if it is in the center of my FOV and I look at the edge of the FOV it jumps right out and becomes quite large, a large smudge with a slightly brighter center, keep in mind that the seeing for me in my area is not that great, when I observed M42 with a 14mm UWA eyepiece(UL20 F3.7 dob) I could barely see star E in the Trapezium, and I could not see it all the time, normally when I can see star E I can also see star F also, but last night all them stars were like flares(pulsating/mushy?), Star F was part of the star it is next to, I could just see 4 stars in the Orionis object, so far I have never been able to see/split that double, most the time I can only see 3 stars.

 

In Vancouver WA we have had nothing but clouds, when it has been clear the moment I set up a telescope clouds rolled in, last night it stayed clear most the viewing night for me after the clouds moved out, I had the 101mm Refractor out also, when the Comet was the same size in the eyepiece of both telescopes, it looked close to the same, 8.8mm UWA(Refractor) and 30mm/Coma Corrector in the 20".

[Jehujones]

 

I had the 101mm Refractor out also, when the Comet was the same size in the eyepiece of both telescopes, it looked close to the same, 8.8mm UWA(Refractor) and 30mm/Coma Corrector in the 20"

well, there's no sense in keeping that 20" and you could probably use the extra space... I'll be right up to take it off your hands 

[daveb2022]

On the 9th I grabbed another cell phone shot using a NVD. The star field it passed through made it easy to find and look kind of cool but still just a smudge in my NP-101 refractor. Last couple of nights have been overcast. To tell the truth I probably wouldn't have took the pic if the star field wasn't adding to the image.

 

 

 

[Waynosworld]

well, there's no sense in keeping that 20" and you could probably use the extra space... I'll be right up to take it off your hands 

 

I tried the 14MM UWA eyepiece in the 20" and the view was not great, seeing was not great so the higher the magnification the worse it got with the 20", but the Refractor did well considering the not so great seeing.

 

I tried both telescopes on Jupiter also, the refractor had pin point moons and I could see a couple bands using a 4.7 UWA but it was still so small, but in the 20" it looked terrible with any eyepiece, I could see the comet better/more detail in the 20", it was a more detailed smudge.

 

My 20" is a much better telescope for most DSOs so I think I will keep it, I could never get the view I had of the Ring Nebula with the Refractor, at least I do not think I could, I was using a 4.7mm in the 20", not sure what eyepiece I would need to use to equal that in the Refractor, 1.5mm?

[Dave Mitsky]

I observed C/2022 E3 (ZTF) again on Monday night from the Naylor Observatory using 8x42, 15x50 IS, and 20x80 binoculars, 80mm and 5" refractors, a 12.5" Newtonian, and a 17" classical Cassegrain.  I got an SQM-L readings of ~19.4 in the area where the comet was located.  The comet is fading and is getting more difficult to see.

 

I boosted the magnification up to 326x while using the 17" telescope.  C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is moving considerably slower than it had been early in the month.