How can I find this comet?

[chicharrero]

Just spent a fun couple of hours when I should have been catching up on sleep outside with my new (to me) TAL 1. Getting the hang of using the finder, and it's taking me no time at all to find things like M13, M3, M81 and M82, and M57, all of which I had a look at tonight. But I couldn't find Comet 41P. I used SkySafari 5 Plus to try to locate it. Could this be giving me the wrong position? Or is it too faint at the moment to see in this telescope? 

As I write the coordinates given are R.A. 13h 46m 08s, dec. +64° 47' 59". Does this sound plausible?

Thanks in advance!

[Knighty2112]

Yes, this is very hard to see without good transparency, dark skies and a bigish dob really. I've tried quite a few times to see it and failed miserably also!  

[Dave In Vermont]

Perhaps this can help?

https://theskylive.com/41p-info

Happy Hunting!

Dave

[Pig]

Given its proximity to the plough I am pretty sure this is one of the two comets Nick & I  saw at the PSP last week.... my scope is a 110mm frac and the skies were pretty good. The "goto" precision of this AZ mount is fantastic and can be trusted to be pointing at the correct position, so we simply entered the coordinates and bam... there it was. Thus aperture is surely the best option but not the only option, as obvious as this sounds you must be looking in the correct area which is not as easy when looking for faint targets.... let alone comets.

[ronin]

Is the Tal on a goto mount? Otherwise the RA+Dec may be a bit difficult to point the scope at accurately. At close to Mag 8.7 it will be faint and depending on how compact or otherwise it may be something that is difficult to recognise at first - I recall this from a previous, I was looking at it wondering what that odd patch in the sky was initially. Actually am in the same position, came across a "patch" that I still cannot identify 3 nights ago when using binoculars, not the comet, other side of the sky

Coordinates seem correct, how dark is it in S Bucks when you look North? Maybe try binocullars first, it appears to be in an easily located bit of the sky - between the plough/pan bits of Uma and Umi.

Assume you are using a wide eyepiece.

[spike95609]

You can also try http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/ for a map of where 41P and others are.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have used Stellarium with the updates for Comets. You can put your scope and eyepieces details into the sofware which will show the exact FOV details. I have seen the Comet a number of times mostly with my 12" and 8" scopes but I have seen it also in my small Skywatcher 130P Heritage.

Keep looking and remember at the moment it still looks like a faint diffused galaxy.

[Owmuchonomy]

It's quite an easy target but take note it has no obvious typical tail, even in some images. It looks to me at the moment a bit like M33, large and diffuse in the FOV. I use Sky safari to locate it and then my ED80 and ED120. I had a crowded Obsy last night and newcomers couldn't see it but those with some experience picked it up with averted vision.

[Knighty2112]

14 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

It's quite an easy target but take note it has no obvious typical tail, even in some images. It looks to me at the moment a bit like M33, large and diffuse in the FOV. I use Sky safari to locate it and then my ED80 and ED120. I had a crowded Obsy last night and newcomers couldn't see it but those with some experience picked it up with averted vision.

With the steertlamps close to me I tend to get glare back into the EP from them if not carefull. I did very faintly with averted vision sometimes think I could see something, however with the LP from the street lamps I could not be certain if it was the comet, or LP leaking into my view.

Note to self: take out small blanket to cover my head and the EP next time to try to observe it!  

[Nyctimene]

18 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

It looks to me at the moment a bit like M33, large and diffuse in the FOV.

 

19 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

newcomers couldn't see it but those with some experience picked it up with averted vision.

Two nights ago, I spotted 41/C again with 7x50 bins (NELM 5.5) and had the same impression - a good occasion to improve your averted vision practice.

A dark velvet blanket will surely help a lot.

Stephan

[wookie1965]

Saw 41p at DIY PSP last week with Nick in my 8" scope not tried in Tal 100rs (4") wait until mount is fixed. 

[SilverAstro]

9 hours ago, chicharrero said:

R.A. 13h 46m 08s, dec. +64° 47' 59". Does this sound plausible?

Yes.  My Stellarium (which has agreed with recent obs. ) is giving me 13h46m10s  +64° 47' 10" for  2am BST 02/04/17

[Flyingfuzz]

Spotted it last week during a Messier Marathon with my club with dark sky's and an 9.25" Celestron.

Could not see it on Friday with same scope in light pollute sky's.

So dark sky's are a must.

[John]

I've seen 41P a couple of times with 11x70 binoculars but the best view I had was the evening that it sat in the same field of view as M97 (Owl Nebula) and M108 (Surfboard Galaxy). I had my 12" dob out that night and the 31mm Nagler eyepiece showed enough sky to comfortably get all 3 objects in the same view. Very cool

Otherwise, it's not been a particularly exciting comet to view but it's history and periodic nature make it worth seeking out

[Stu]

This was an easy target (although did use Goto) in both 4" frac and C925 at DIYPSP. No sign of it even in the C925 from home the other night which looked quite good. As said, clear sky and good transparency needed.

Normal home skies are mag 18.5, PSP was 20.5, big difference.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I just checked out Stellarium and it should be much easier to find tonight. Between Thuban and 10 Drac there are three mag 7 stars in a line. The Comet is just below the middle 7th mag star at 25 minutes distance.

[John]

33 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

I just checked out Stellarium and it should be much easier to find tonight. Between Thuban and 10 Drac there are three mag 7 stars in a line. The Comet is just below the middle 7th mag star at 25 minutes distance.

Should be clear here until around 11 pm as well. I'll be getting to dob out later methinks

[John]

The comet is within a degree of Alpha Draconis at the moment. It's faint and diffuse but it should be visible in a 4" scope I would have thought. Signs of central brightening with my 12" dob tonight.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Just been out with Skywatcher 130P Heritage and I have just seen  it using an 11mm ES82. It is faint and the Moon does not help but it can be seen with a 5" Newt. As previously stated start with Alpha Draconis (Thuban).

[elliot]

I found it with Celestron 20x80 bins in Kildare countryside (pretty dark). I say I found it -  when I swept back and forward, the black seemed to change from black to a slightly different kind of black. I didn't bother showing my daughter.