46P Wirtanen and a treat

[BiggarDigger]

A back garden session this evening with my 200p Dob.  Started around 20:30, though I had a false start as clouds came rolling in.  I went back inside for a warm cup of tea and a blether with Mrs Digger.  Permission was granted for me to return to the garden at around 2130 and the clouds had melted away leaving a clear sky from horizon to horizon.  Seeing was fair to good: I could easily split the Trapezium in M42, but couldn't identify the E&F stars: possibly it was too low in the sky and a lot of disturbed air in the way.  Up to M1 and then round to M33 as a double check that seeing was ok.

So back to my quarry for the evening.  46P should be located close to the star 94Cet, so star hop from Menkar down to 94Cet and a fuzzy blob appeared close by, roughly centered within in a group of three mag 7-8(ish) stars.  Looked pretty much like a galaxy except with the tail which was just visible with averted vision stretching out north and east.

After spending a happy few minutes on the comet I swung over to Ursa Major and M109 was an easy catch, then up to M81 and 82, plus NGC3077 and then back round to M31, which I never seem to be able to get away from, it's just such a beautiful object.  I could make out the extended disk of M31 and seeing appeared to be improving, so I had a shot at NGC404, Mirach's Ghost.  Well, there was certainly something there and in the right place.  I never really expected to be able to see in the glare of Mirach, but there it (or something) was. 

Trying my luck, I went back to Cetus and thinking "Well, if I can see a mag 12 galaxy next to a mag 2 star, I might be able to see a SuperNova"!  But, no, it was not to be.  M77, Cetus A, was accompanied by a mag 11 star but no additional dot where the supernova should be.  I suppose it was cheeky of me and a bit of a stretch for an 8 inch dob.  I did however catch NGC1087 and NGC1085, the former like a feint fuzzy blob and the latter an elongated barely brighter patch of sky that caught my eye in averted vision else I would not have seen it.

Time for one last look at Wirtanen 46P.  Hang on a minute, it's not where it was.  I stepped back from the eyepiece and checked with both the viewfinder and the Telrad, yes, I was on it and it not some other object:.  In the course of about an hour it had moved to the east and was no longer within the triangle of stars but clearly quite a bit east of them.  More than that, as I checked and double checked the viewfinder and Telrad I see a feint grey smudge by naked eye.

Looking ever more closely by naked eye at this patch of greyness, I'm fairly convinced it was the comet.  Similar in size and brightness to M31 by naked eye; perhaps a little fainter and with a decidedly north-south bias to it's shape.  There'e nothing else nearby that would present itself in that form: not an open or globular cluster, nor any nebulae that I can find.  I'm pretty sure it was the comet, by naked eye!

Cold and more than just a little content, it's time to come in and warm up.

[Demonperformer]

Sounds like a great session, BD.

 

[NGC 1502]

 

Indeed 46P Wirtanen is naked eye under a good sky.

Last night, Sunday 11th, three of us from my local club went at short notice to our dark site. 46P was readily found with my TV Pronto at 14x and a 5 degree field, then I realised it was naked eye.  One of my clubmates who specialises in comets said it’s been a long time since we’ve had a naked eye comet.

Ed.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great report. I spotted 46P yesterday, not naked eye in my suburban garden, but an easy target in binoculars

[Eastman]

Great report, came from a quick view at 46P / Wirtanen. Need a bino for the comet from my garden. Nice lighter core is a grey fuzzy blob.

[SpaceAlloter]

I am looking at menkar with my astro binoculars and cant still spot 46p

 

 

[Davey-T]

16 minutes ago, SpaceAlloter said:

I am looking at menkar with my astro binoculars and cant still spot 46p

 

 

Hi and welcome to SGL.

Try starting from Aldebaran and moving slowly right towards Menkar, despite its proclaimed unmissable brightness it's easy to miss it but once located it's easy to relocate when you know what you're looking for 

Dave