kerrylewis

Not much to add to the above reports but extremely chuffed to have seen this comet after my preparation yesterday. At first I thought clouds in just the wrong place would be a problem but they began to break up and there it was. Clear through the binoculars- almost stellar but the tail was immediately obvious. Brighter than I expected and managed to get it in the scope too. Bright core with fan shaped tail but any longer portions now being swallowed up by the dawn. What a treat to see a ‘real’ comet hanging in the sky just as it should.

To be serious for a moment; I really want to see this comet and above all I want to see a tail! I haven't seen a comet with a tail for years. All the recent ones seem to have been just fuzzy patches. Here's hoping....

You are all correct of course! I have submitted my risk assessment to the Elf and Safety Hexeckutiff and it has been rejected. Gonna have to ditch the stepladder 😀

1. Forecast clear tomorrow morning - check 2. Find position of comet one hour before sunrise on Sky Safari - check 3. Check visibility of that position from garden with iPhone compass app- check 4. Position stepladder for added height advantage - check 5. Binoculars at the ready - check What can possibly go wrong? 😀

Just a quick heads up Steve - I think in your editing of the newsletter you've left in the note about the Venus lunar occultation from last month Cheers Kerry

Ok. I was up on Wednesday morning viewing the planets and there were some wispy tendrils quite high in elevation which looked much like your photo. No bright ones nearer the horizon but still an attractive sight

Damian Did you take any photos the following morning Wednesday? I saw something similar then Kerry

I have used that method before! Usually for a one off event I really don't to miss like a lunar eclipse for example. My in-built clock is not bad and has one advantage - it's silent so I don't disturb the members of the household - but it's not accurate to the minute!

I did! But as you can tell my brain cells are ageing rapidly so I probably missed them like I did your timings 😀 I will try, try and try again

Apologies if those times were there before- simply didn’t see them! I was up observing the planets at that time. I suspect I am not looking low enough - my horizon is a bit cluttered from the garden.

Hello Rob if you have a smartphone you can get various apps which measure angles. I have a couple of compass apps which show elevation and you can see the horizon through them with the camera. If you have an iPhone I can give you specifics Kerry

Lovely photos. i was looking last night and this morning but saw nothing. What time were the shots taken?

Problems with my mount and with clouds prevented me from having another go until this morning. My internal alarm clock was a bit late so I only had a short time with Mars and Jupiter. Saturn is a little higher which helps. The results from using the ADC were a bit short lived and inconclusive. Setting up the ADC is tricky if also using a diagonal - the fitted bubble level is only useful in ‘straight through’ mode which can be hard on the back! So I try to line it up with features on the planet but they are not parallel with the horizon unless it’s due south - so it’s guesswork really. Also I like to just observe so swapping fittings around for comparison is not good. Having said that I did give it a go. Only a short time on Mars but the polar cap and hints of dark areas did seem slightly more obvious. Likewise on Jupiter where Io’s small shadow was definitely clearer with the ADC. I then watched Io itself approach the disc and begin its transit - always fascinating. Saturn was its usual glorious self and was definitely improved witH the ADC. Seeing was average but it looked sharp with the Cassini division clear. I’ll give the ADC another go but my conclusions today back up my previous experiences in that it’s definitely worth a go with low planets if you can deal with another piece of equipment to fiddle with 😀

Yes Ade, the main reason for posting my experience is for the benefit of others who might have similar problems. I had assumed that any power to the handset came from the mount. I think the small battery is only there for the clock. Ioptron quote a life of two years so worth checking if you’ve had the mount a while.

Seems to be sorted - fingers crossed. I followed Ioptron’s advice and replaced the batteries in the handset- which I’d never done. This keeps the clock correct even without GPS. I then opened up the mount and made sure that the connecting cable for the GPS module was secure at both ends and, hey presto, everything seems to be ticketty boo. 😀

That’s a good point. Ioptron support didn’t mention them but I will check that I’m up to date. Thanks

Hello Hadyn Thanks for your reply. I've also had a quick response from Ioptron technical support and they suggest a couple of things which I will try Take care Kerry

I have an Ioptron AZ Pro mount which has worked flawlessly since I bought it. However it is now not picking up GPS and the handset shows GPS ON but does not switch to GPS OK. The date and time are therefore wrong (it defaults to a 2013 date) and therefore it does not find objects correctly. I initially thought that I was too close to buildings perhaps but I have tried other locations in the garden without success. Has anyone else had this problem? Kerry

Just seen a transit of the sun by the ISS. I decided to use the transit-finder.com website and give it a try. Boy is it quick! Reading the information on the website I was expecting a transit time of 45 seconds but I had misread it - actually 0.45 seconds! I obviously didn't think about it much because I should realise that the ISS would go a long way in 45s! Brain cells ossifying at an alarming rate. No sunspots to use for accurately setting the focus so it was a bit blurred - I thought it must be a bird at first! One must try the things I suppose 😀

I would say yes. I can see it with my 100mm refractor. It is not particularly conveniently placed at the moment but is visible in the early hours. It happens to be very close to Mars at the moment. The main difficulty is identifying it rather than any surrounding stars. Using high magnification will,usually show its disc and it is also a distinctive blue colour. Do you have any planetarium software? This would show its location.

Up again for the dawn trio and despite some thin cloud I managed some decent views. Mars first before it disappeared behind the neighbour’s roof. Now beginning to show some detail with a surprisingly bright polar cap and a hint of a dark feature. I’m really looking forward to this year’s apparition- no dust storms hopefully. Saturn it’s usual jewel self. Seeing was not perfect but settled at times to show the Cassini division and bands on the planet. The rings are noticeably closing now. Jupiter was good with two close moons each side. No ‘happenings’ but some good detail including a prominent dark spot in the northern belt. Back to bed as a misty moon was rising. I think I’ll give the ADC (atmospheric dispersion corrector) a try next time.

The Sky and Telescope Jupiter Moons app will answer all your questions. It shows all the moon and shadow events - past present and future in a very straightforward manner. Well worth acquiring

Hello and welcome Andy from a Northants resident Kerry

This is John's sketch: All credit to John -sorry I can't work out how to link another thread which would show the context! This sketch was the key to my cracking Zeta Herculis after many failed attempts. It accurately depicts what you can expect to see and the compass points help to confirm the position of the companion. Basically, in my scope at least, it doesn't look like a 'normal' double star Good luck

I have the 350P and although it is a bit of a handful I use a B&Q trolley to wheel it from the garage where it’s stored . My favoured eyepieces are the Explore Scientific wide angle ones - they give superb views.