2 replies to this topic

[Taosmath]

I was looking at the barely visible Comet C/2024 G3 tonight at 17:48 Mountain Time using mounted 15x70 Binoculars from Taos, NM.

 

The comet was very low - maybe 3 degrees above the horizon.

 

I had been observing it for 15 minutes or so and just before it dropped below my horizon the brightness of the core flared quite significantly for a few ( 3-5? ) seconds and then faded again back to normal.  I did not notice any significant variation in the brightness of the tail. It repeated this three or four times more over the space of about 3 minutes or so before I lost sight of it below the horizon.

 

My first thought was "Is the comet breaking up?", but the fact that I observed it occurring a few times makes that seem unlikely.

 

Is this an atmospheric seeing effect since it was so low and is this a common occurrence? - I'm more of a DSO guy & not very experienced in looking at objects so close to the horizon.

 

I'd appreciate some clarification & comments from more experienced observers.

Edited by Taosmath, 15 January 2025 - 08:09 PM.

[BrooksObs]

Unquestionably atmospheric induced.

 

BrooksObs

[Nankins]

Atmospheric turbulance mixed with looking through a lot more atmosphere due to low altitude.  Try it with Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus sometime and you will notice it. 

 

Viewing objects very close to the western or eastern horizons is not advised..... The atmosphere is the trouble with that.  If you observe say Jupiter when it is high in the sky and then later in the year when it dips into the western horizon you will notice that a lot more detail shows up when the planet is higher in the sky.  

 

Try it with Venus too, albeit do it soon before Venus starts getting lower in the sky again.  This is probably the best time in a good long while to get a good look at Venusian features since the sky is quite dark before Venus gets below 40 degrees.  Normally you mostly get to observe Venus when it is within 25 degrees of the horizon unless you are a dedicated planetary observer who has the ability to observe Venus often when it is up.  Observing it fairly high in the sky at dark - now that's something I imagine many of us would find good reason to get the scope out for a short session.