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December 9, 2018: Wirtanen brightening clearly


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Just managed another look at comet 46P/Wirtanen through gaps in clouds from my suburban garden, using the trusty Helios LightQuest 16x80 binoculars. It was close to 94 Ceti, and much brighter and easier than last Tuesday, when I was in a much darker location south of the city. Coming Tuesday I might get some clearer skies so I might have a shot at imaging it. Pretty chuffed at my second, and much better look. Binoculars are really ideal for these conditions, when you just cannot get the bigger guns out, due to the threat of showers.

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Still not saw it from my garden in Queensferry  with the 12x50's but will persevere 

Weather here not playing nice been getting nice clear days over weekend  and the sun starts to sink then the clouds roll in so not been worth taking 22x85's out :(

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6 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

Still not saw it from my garden in Queensferry  with the 12x50's but will persevere 

Weather here not playing nice been getting nice clear days over weekend  and the sun starts to sink then the clouds roll in so not been worth taking 22x85's out :(

Hope you get some clear skies soon. It should become easier to spot it

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Had a few folks round last night under spectacular skies but although 46P was on the agenda again it is still disappointing. I couldn’t really see much change from last week. I couldn’t get a tail in the 6” frac. It is fast enough to record movement over a few minutes.  I got the visitors to chalk their views on the obsy walls every few minutes.  Hopefully Michael is right. Closest approach is next Sunday I believe.

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Had another try with smaller binoculars: the Vixen New Foresta 10x56. Though quite big, they are dwarfed by the Helios LightQuest 16x80 binoculars.

IMG_20181210_222250.thumb.jpg.e3e05c75c3340de49e6fcf0015f2c6cc.jpg

Wirtanen was an easy target in the smaller binoculars too. In averted vision I seemed to spot some elongation, but the impression was so fleeting I cannot be that certain. What is certain is that the fuzzy ball is big, a good deal bigger than the Messier clusters in Auriga.

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I had a final go late last evening, when it cleared properly just before I went to bed. I even thought I got hints of it with the naked eye. It was not enough to be absolutely sure, but through the Helios LightQuest 16x80 binoculars it looked easily as bright as M31, so under good conditions it should be possible.

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54 minutes ago, Nova2000 said:

Has anyone tried to observe the comet from town skies (bortle 6/5)?using a telescope off course 

 

Even using my telescope on course, I couldn't see it the other night from my Bortle 6 to 7 skies. It was only a 72mm frac, so perhaps throwing a bit more aperture at it might help!

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Here in suburban Japan, between Osaka and Wakayama, Wirtanen is appearing this eve as a fuzzy cloud in the vicinity of Menkar. No brightness to it but happy to ID it. Other clouds are passing by from time to time. The, “comet cloud” is stationary. Had an easier time with my 15x70 Celestron Skymaster finding M41 with a quick point and look under Sirius. 

12/12/18

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Hello.  Got myself out with my Pentax 12  x 50's as only partial cloud bobbing about but rather milky skies. 

No sign visually but by using the finder charts I managed to find the blighter  !!    Rather chuffed.  Very diffuse to say the least but I can notch up another success. 

Stayed out for about half an hour hoping for some fun with the meteor shower.  Just managed to see the one  - hey ho 

Regards   John 

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Similarly here in 11x70's and 7x35's. I reckon I got a few naked eye glimpses too with the aid of averted vision. Couple of bright Geminid's as well. Much better skies here now. Earlier there were thin streams of clouds across most of the sky. It's not the best transparency but not too bad.

 

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Got it tonight in the Intes Mak. Took a bit of finding, especially because I had about a 1 degree field of view on a manual mount and muggins here forgot his finder scope! Looked quite bright, a much better view than the binos the other night obviously, but still not that extensive as the skies are not that dark around here.

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