Plan to lose my comet-virginity tonight!! Any tips?

[Jim-a]

Given that it looks like it will be clear here tonight I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of P168 - it will be my first attempt to view a comet, so does anyone have any tips?

[David Smith]

I assume you plan to view 168P Hoergenrother. Don't expect too much - it's small! Comets are also difficult to see detail in (I find anyway) in part because of there size. Lastly, don't over do the magnification as I find you lose contrast. I was looking at it the other day and using 134x in my 10" Revelation scope.

Good luck!

[rory]

http://heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=168P&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET good luck, ive a clear spell for an hour or two so im going to try too.

[John]

Use a low power to find a "suspect" but it will be no more than that. It's small so magnification is needed to confirm it's nature - I found around 120x was helpful. It's not spectacular by any means though.

Good luck !

[Jim-a]

Unfortunately my comet-virginity remains intact. Clouds rolling in now and during the brief time I got, Pegasus was in the most light polluted part of my sky - with the naked eye I could only see the four main stars in the square. One thing I hadn't really though about before is that (in my cheap eyepieces anyway) due to the coma, pretty much everything that sweeps into view looks like a 'suspect' until its in the centre of the field of view.

Oh well... next time.

[rory]

well i managed before the clouds got to much. didnt really have enough time to fully dark adapt the mark ones but still managed to get it just about. at first i thought id stumbled upon a galaxy but checking heavens above and stellarium for star field i knew i had it. due to lack of dark adaptation i found it washed out at x100 but x 48 gave a pleasing view of a oval cloudy patch. put a quick pencil sketch down for reference. as youll see light pollution and lack of time meant little detail. still hey first comet .

[Jim-a]

Well done Rory. Good to get a sketch as well