Comet C/2017 T1 Heinze

[alanjgreen]

My first target this morning at around 2am was comet C/2017 T1 Heinze. The comet was easily located using sky safari 5 and the Nexus push-to system on my 20" dob.

My notes say

"With the Ethos10 (x200) in the scope, I nudged over to where it should be. Nudged around a bit more… Here it is! The comet appears as a small bright patch around a bright dot central core. There is a lot of faint dust coming off covering a large area making it a fairly faint object overall to see. The dust circle was up to about half the Ethos FOV @x200. There was a possible tail heading east (but this may have been a background or atmospheric distraction – need to see an image to confirm)."

[Littleguy80]

Thanks for the write up, Alan  How bright was the comet? Do you think this can be seen with smaller apertures?

[alanjgreen]

11 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thanks for the write up, Alan  How bright was the comet? Do you think this can be seen with smaller apertures?

Its probably brighter than comet C/2017 O1 (the last one I saw in October) and the conditions were not the best last night so there may be some hope for smaller aperture. But its not a bright comet for sure (big & diffuse).

[andrew63]

Nice description Alan - been a while since I've seen a comet.  I think this information sounds a bit to optimistic  !

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/c2017-t1-heinze-binocular-comet-for-the-new-year/

 

andrew

[John]

According to The Sky Live the comet is currently at mag 8.96:

https://theskylive.com/planetarium?obj=c2017t1

 

[paul mc c]

Was looking at this..not visually...last night,very fast moving,but with the moon didnt even attempt to observe it.

[alanjgreen]

I had another crack at C/2017 T1 Heinze tonight. It was located in Cassiopia.

I was using the 20" dob. It was 2230 and the moon was starting to brighten in the east  

Wow, it was hard to find! Sky Safari had it sitting next to a bright star which I centered on. Nope. (Who works out these published brightnesses???)

Eventually, after a few passes I caught it in averted vision. It was a small fuzzy patch sitting to the right of two bright stars (Phew).

I tried a few different magnifications but it didn't improve. Best view was ethos10 (x200) for me.

C/2016 R2 PANSTARRS was better (see my other post).

I will try to keep popping back now the moon is on the wain (Hurrah!)