Comet Jacques coming around

[Stu]

Yes, low power, wide field is the way with this. I've just picked it up with the ED102 / 31 Nagler combo again. It's around 4-5 degrees from the double cluster in Perseus at the moment.

Yep, that's what I did, just panned around from the DC and there it was!

[John]

The comet seems about the same brightness as M82 so around mag 8.5.

[happy-kat]

I been to hide away from the street lamps just up the road and using my 8x30 bins found the double cluster and panned left but nothing stood out as being able to say yes saw the comet.

I guess my bins are to small. They also suffer from double image so tricky to use.

[John]

It's going to be very faint and small in 8x30's. Your Heritage dob should show it easily though.

[Siriusmeg]

Is it visible in 10x50s?  It's behind the house at the mo, and I can't go too far cos the kids are sleeping - could venture a bit up the road with the bins though.

[hobsey]

At last, I have seen it. 

Couldn't be bothered to take the scope and gear out as its all packed for my weekend away but I did manage to see it in my bins.

Just to confirm, in 10x50 bins is it quite a faint small blob?

[John]

Yes, it's really quite faint and small in 10x50's - think Messier 82-ish.

Edit: Definitely do-able with 10x50's though as I've just been looking at it with mine which are "charity shop" specials

The comet is in a small triangle of stars right now in the scope view but through the binocs there are a couple of nearby stars sort of pointing at it. The comet is just about in the same 10x50 FoV as the double cluster.

[Ptarmigan]

Very faint in 10x50, still reasonably 'doable' but to my eyes not nearly as bright/easy as it was just a few nights ago, in fact I went googling to see if anyone was talking about it having had a bit of an outburst then, but nothing found.

mind-u it is still a bit early in the night so still not far above the haze, give it another hour or two to get a bit higher.

At the moment it is a bit tangled up with the also faint HIP 11505 and there are no easy other markers.

If you take a line up from Mirfak thro' gamma and eta and extend the line up past the double cluster to its right, then Comet Jack is a similar distance left of that line and a bit higher than the double, if that makes sense/helps !?

[andrew63]

Been looking this evening with 10x50s again. For those still searching, if you place the bright Epsilon Cassiopeia at top of the field of 10x50  at 12 ish the comet is at 6 o'clock about 4 degrees below.  I tried the 8x30s and it was still reasonable with them.  Would have thought any optical aid would show it.

Yes it is fainter than a few nights ago.

andrew

[Siriusmeg]

http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2014_E2.pdf is really accurate. you should pick it up with any scope and widest field eyepiece assuming your skies are good enough to see M81 and M82 which I'd guess are about the same sort of brightness.

Thanks for this - really helped in tracking it down tonight.  Rather larger than I was expecting!  We also found our first hedgehog foraging in the garden - hope he's staying around, daughter has now named him Jacques  

[Stu]

Just had a nice view in the 15x50's. Seemed quite bright still, but I only viewed it yesterday night for the first time so not sure what it was like at its brightest.

John's description of the triangle of stars was spot on even in the binos from where I am tonight.

Just to prove/disprove Andrew's comment, I tried my mighty 8x20's. Just about got it with those too, but a bit of a struggle!

Stu

[John]

Nice Stu

One of my nicest views of the comet tonight has just come from a pair of old 7x35 extra wide binoculars which sport a whopping 11 degree FoV !. Though the field edges showed some distortion, the double cluster, comet Jacques and Epsilon Cassiopeia were in the same view plus a couple of other open clusters. It was a nice "rich field"

[Ptarmigan]

Gosh, a bit later (~2.5hr ?) and it is now nice in 10x50,

I must have seriously underestimated the low-down haze earlier,

and was I (or my eyes) deceiving myself earlier cos now it is well clear of HIP 11505,

can it be moving that fast ? !

Some serious Stellariumizing needs doing , , ,

[Stu]

Gosh, a bit later (~2.5hr ?) and it is now nice in 10x50,

I must have seriously underestimated the low-down haze earlier,

and was I (or my eyes) deceiving myself earlier cos now it is well clear of HIP 11505,

can it be moving that fast ? !

Some serious Stellariumizing needs doing , , ,

Well done!

Yes, it really is moving that fast, quite easy to see movement within half an hour or so.

[kerrylewis]

Great view early this morning as Jacques moves into a lovely area of the sky. He reminds me of Comet Holmes  - similar 'fuzzball' shape with no tail(s) and high in the sky. It's good to track its movement from night to night (but not tonight according to the forecast) and to see it against dark skies and not down in the twilight like many of the brighter comets. I love comets! 

[Chinapig]

Yup, very good here last night too. Dark enough by around 23:30, and had a wonderful time for an hour or so, mesmerised by Jaques' progress.

Naturally, you know that comets move, but I think this must be the first comet that I've seen move so much in so short a period. I'm no youngster, but the childish excitement over the last few nights has been magic! Shared the sight with a stargazing pal a couple of nights ago, and he was equally amazed at the comet's speed, and at the star-rich area of sky close by. Lovely...

My son & his family arrive tonight, and I'm dying to share the view with him through "Dad's new binos", but yeah, sod's law, it looks like cloud will roll in down our way by mid evening. Tomorrow night's looking better though - fingers crossed.

Cheers all - happy comet tracking!

[MattJenko]

This has been my first comet sighting. Saw using my 80ED pointed at NGC1027 and then meandered about looking for it using a wide eyepiece. It looked standout, so much so I was really not sure for a while if it was indeed Jacques. Tried higher mag eyepieces, but it was still early and couldn't make out much detail, although could definitely see a cloud around it, although not the traditional comet tail shape!

Took a couple of pictures later in the evening, and it was still quite surprising to me how quickly it changes position relative to the stars, even though logically this should be obvious! The green colour became apparent only in images, I am not sure I can genuinely say I saw the colour at the telescope. I wish I had taken the Dob out now, but enjoyed the whole experience all the same.

[chiltonstar]

Very bright here last night, despite the LP towards the NE and mist. Obvious in the 15x70s and finderscope, and very clear at x50 in my 127 Mak. Not the most handsome comet perhaps, but very visible!

Interesting to see some apparent structure, which turned out (I took a 30 sec DSLR exposure) to be a faint background star shining through the halo.

Chris

[Jim Smith]

I scheduled an iTelescope.net 300 second exposure of Jacques for around midnight last night. It shows the movement over 5 minutes quite well I think. If somebody could tell me how to show images in these posts, I will load it up here!

[Ptarmigan]

Well done!

Yes, it really is moving that fast, quite easy to see movement within half an hour or so.

Thanks BMS, I am amazed a ) that I had a sky suficiently clear for long enough and b ) a comet fast enough to show considerable movment in modest instrument.

It was still just a wee blob, but an entertaining wee blob and I swear it was at lest as fast as a BlobWidth per Gin&Tonic :)

Chinapig > "Shared the sight with a stargazing pal"

Yes me too, last night by remote control with some SGL chums that was a new experience

As a result a most enjoyable night was had, to bed very late in the morning and slept like a babe till just now (11am!) and its raining cats&dogs

Thanks for all the interesting observations everyone.

[Jim Smith]

I found out how to upload the image

[bish]

Finally seen it with the bins. It's well out of the worst part of the sky for me now (at a reasonable hour!). Guess it must be a bit brighter as the sky was quite hazy, certainly not properly clear.

[mjpfc]

Looked good last night in amongst a "Kite" shape of four equal mag stars near the border.

Looking at Jim's image, its starting to make sense to me. I cannot see the thin tail of the image

but a projection at its base that is making the Comet look slightly "tear-droppish".

Its not that good directly viewing but if you A/V a little and give the scope a slight wiggle it

stands out quite well.

Nice Comet all round this one, and I hear that K1 Panstarrs is getting brighter across Leo-way.

Might pull an all-nighter if the skies hold up through the weekend, its supposed to be good next week.

Mick.

[Pete Presland]

been watching it every clear night, it looks very nice in the 20x80's lots of other interesting objects nearby as well!

[John]

I've got the 12" dob out tonight and Jacques is nicely in view. Quite easy to find as it's not far from Epsilon Cassiopeia currently. I'm waiting for the sky to darken further to see what the larger aperture makes of it.