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Comet Jacques coming around

andrew63

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Im pretty sure i picked up this comet last night with my Vixen vmc110 and 25mm circle T @x41 this will have been 2300 hours , i would say it looked a little smaller than i expected, im hoping to image this next week at Dalby camp

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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Caught it at 10.30 . Very washed out with high hazy mist. The arrival of the Moon and cloud didn't help later on. It is delightfully bright though,

Nick.

Hi Nick, could you estimate a rough magnitude, I've tried a couple of times to image it with DSLR and 200mm lens but no sign of it, definitely in the right spot, full Moon, but would have thought it would show up.

Stellarium said mag' 10 but Pete Lawrence seemed to have no trouble imaging it on recent S@N ?

It actually crept out from behind neighbouring conifer in the early hours last night, so visible from obs'y and in range of big scope, but it was cloudy of course :)

Dave

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goodricke1

goodricke1

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Click 'Configuration window'

Then 'Plugins'

Then 'Solar System Editor'

Then 'Configure' (on same window)

Then 'Solar System'

Then 'Import orbital elements in MPC format'

Then 'Comets'

Then, under 'Download a list of objects from the Internet', select 'MPC's list of observable comets' from the drop-down window

Then 'Get orbital elements'

Then, check C/2014 E2 (Jacques) and click 'Add objects'

Restart Stellarium

Type C/2014 E2 in the search box

Voila :)

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andrew63

andrew63

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Just been looking at the electronic mag. guides of Jacques - they are not right.  The latest freestarcharts seems more realistic to me - hovering around mag 7 to 8 through the rest of august.

Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) moves north, remains visible with binoculars | Free Star Charts

14E2CH10.png 1,280×1,000 pixels

andrew

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Pete Presland

Pete Presland

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Failed to find it again last night with 16x50 bin's, can't see it from obs'y due to large conifer, hope it gets higher before it gets too dim.

Seems to be getting dimmer according to Stellarium.

Dave

i caught it in my 15x70's a couple of nights ago, not really bright but once you see it no mistaking it.

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John

John

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I've just said "Bonjour" to Jaques :smiley:

Easy to pick up with my 4" refractor. Looks mag 7-8 to me and just where the star charts predicted. 7x50 binoculars could also pick it out once the refractor had confirmed the identify of the fuzzy object.

Nice halo of light with a concentrated centre. Even in the 20 mins or so I've been watching it seems to have moved compared to the background stars but that could be just my imagination !

Nice to see another comet :smiley:

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Chinapig

Chinapig

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I'm sure I saw some movement too!

I followed a line through the double cluster, down towards the northern horizon, and found the fuzzy bit just below a fairly faint star in Camelopardalis - I starting looking around 10:15pm., using 15x70 bins. By approx one hour later, the fuzzy bit had moved north a tad, and appeared to have "eclipsed" the star, or rather the star now appeared more in the centre of the fuzz rather than just above it.

Had a wonderful couple of hours touring around with the bins. Sky was delightfully clear - the strong winds on the coast across the last few days seemed to have cleared the air.

Not sure now that I'll wake up in time for Jupiter/Venus conjunction, but so pleased to have found the comet!

Goodnight all...

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John

John

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I'm sure I saw some movement too!

I followed a line through the double cluster, down towards the northern horizon, and found the fuzzy bit just below a fairly faint star in Camelopardalis - I starting looking around 10:15pm., using 15x70 bins. By approx one hour later, the fuzzy bit had moved north a tad, and appeared to have "eclipsed" the star, or rather the star now appeared more in the centre of the fuzz rather than just above it......

Nice report - the comet seems to be drawing away from that star now. When I started observing the star appeared embedded in the halo of the comet but there is clear dark sky between the two objects now.

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Chinapig

Chinapig

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Nice report - the comet seems to be drawing away from that star now. When I started observing the star appeared embedded in the halo of the comet but there is clear dark sky between the two objects now.

Thanks John - grateful for the corroborating evidence!

I honestly didn't expect to see noticeable movement in such a relatively short period of time. Makes you really appreciate the dynamics of it all...

Cheers

Simon

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Special K

Special K

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This is a nice easy find in 10x50's, and your online charts are spot on, Andrew, thanks! Looked a lot like Lovejoy in appearance, magnitude, and shape. That brings back happy memories of comet season last December :)

John & Chinapig: I also saw it move away from that little star which was cool. They sure are fast!

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John

John

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Jaques is moving fast !

It's also reminded me of another comet with a certain Rosetta spacecraft currently in close attendance - looking forward to some more amazing close up images of comet  67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko soon :smiley:

Exciting times in cometary science.

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Ptarmigan

Ptarmigan

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Gosh, thanks for all the heads-up and updates everyone, I finally got it !

For anyone in the west country, specifically N.Somerset, there is a spectacular sky out there,

all major stars in U.Minor so NELM must be in the region of 5.5 or better cos I didnt need to dark adapt much ( long time since I could say that!) and C/2014 E2 is easy (no messing in/out doors with star charts) with 10x50 Lidl specials (aka Bresser)

I am amazed

took longer to update Stellarium and compare my sketch than to find it visually !

Approx. half way between gamma Perseus and HIP 16228

Well pleased, I thort I was going to miss that one :)

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