Iwamoto- success stories?

[Mark at Beaufort]

Mark this is the update procedure for Stellarium irrespective of which version you have.

 

 

[markclaire50]

11 hours ago, John said:

I use Stellarium version 0.18.3 and Cartes du Ciel version 4.0-3575. I update the cometary data daily. Hope that helps.

 

Hi John. Well, within 10 minutes of booting up the laptop, I'd found the update, updated, found iwamoto and determined its position at 11.30 tonight at 17' from 15 Cnc. However, forecast tonight looks cloudy. Plus at mag 10.3, I fear it may be out of range of my scopes. I wonder though, if my 80mmed frac with a 25 mm TV eyepiece might give me better contrast than my mak 127mm. So even though in theory it gathers less light, maybe the frac is the better tool? The moon is now also a problem, and will still be up at that time. I fear I may have to wait another 1300 years to see it again. ??☹️

[markclaire50]

1 minute ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Mark this is the update procedure for Stellarium irrespective of which version you have.

 

 

Thanks Mark. I've just done CdC. So thus could be useful when I get to stellarium. Thanks  lot. ?

[markclaire50]

3 hours ago, markclaire50 said:

Thanks Mark. I've just done CdC. So thus could be useful when I get to stellarium. Thanks  lot. ?

Hi. 

Couldn't get it to update comets. ?

But, not one to give up quickly, I decided to delete it and download the 32 bit version instead. This time, success! Although, search function not as user friendly as carte du ciel, which quicky found iwamoto. Also interface not as nice or intuitive as CdC, just from my first 10 minutes on both. Example, I figured out how to measure angular distance between 15 Cancri and the comet very quickly in CdC, but not obvious at all in Stellarium. I do however, think stellarium may have great potential once I learn how to use it better. 

[At dusk]

I saw the comet the night It came close to NGC 2903. It was really amazing watch It move around the galaxy.

I took some pictures only as a testimony of the approach. Windy, gusts over 30 km, Moon... 

 

[markclaire50]

2 hours ago, At dusk said:

I saw the comet the night It came close to NGC 2903. It was really amazing watch It move around the galaxy.

I took some pictures only as a testimony of the approach. Windy, gusts over 30 km, Moon... 

 

Hi. Nice photo. If sky is clear tonight, I'm having one last crack at it with low mag in my 80mm ed. Can't wait for 1300 years for its return! 

What did you use to get the photo? 

[At dusk]

Hi. Takahashi fc100dc + Canon 200d. 10x30'.  It's a difficult target with moonlight and moving so fast

[Wyvern]

Hi,

For what their worth, here are six shots I managed on the evening of the 14th Feb.

Bright moonlight was a pain, managing to shine into the focus tube assembly. One of Wife's large potting trays suddenly gained a new and important use as an impromptu "moon shade".

Les.

[markclaire50]

29 minutes ago, Wyvern said:

Hi,

For what their worth, here are six shots I managed on the evening of the 14th Feb.

Bright moonlight was a pain, managing to shine into the focus tube assembly. One of Wife's large potting trays suddenly gained a new and important use as an impromptu "moon shade".

Les.

Wow. You can really seeing it getting a shift on! Clear spatial movement over only a few minutes. Then again I believe it's doing around 150000 mph! 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Haven't had any luck yet, despite one attempt with the Celestron C8, and three attempts with the Helios LightQuest 16x80 binoculars. Moonlight and slight haze confounded me, I think. Hope to get another shot.

[PeterW]

Tried several times with 15x70 in urban light pollution with the moon about... no show, even though I knew I was looking in the right place. Heading somewhere dark next weekend, so hopefully catch it before it fades too much.

thanks

peter

[Paz]

After a fail on Monday with the ST80 I had another go tonight with the ST120 and less moon glare, and still not confirmed as seen! I thought maybe I saw a faint smudge but after moving to Theta Geminorium to check my focus was spot on thin cloud rolled in and it was game over. I could see stars down to Mag 11.2 with averted vision until the clouds arrived so thought I was in with a chance.

[markclaire50]

1 hour ago, Paz said:

After a fail on Monday with the ST80 I had another go tonight with the ST120 and less moon glare, and still not confirmed as seen! I thought maybe I saw a faint smudge but after moving to Theta Geminorium to check my focus was spot on thin cloud rolled in and it was game over. I could see stars down to Mag 11.2 with averted vision until the clouds arrived so thought I was in with a chance.

Hi Paz. I was going to have another go with my 80mm ed and 127mm mak, but lurking clouds put me off. You make an interesting point that other members may know about more than I do, regardi g magnitude. A diffuse object like a comet with magnitude 10.3 is, I believe, not equivalent to same magnitude as a star, because the light is spread out more, rather than over a point source. But I'm not sure of the mathematical relationship. Probably something related to unit brightness per arcsecond. I'd read that Iwamoto was already out of range of scopes less than 150mm at start of week. At present time, I don't know what minimum aperture would be to visually detect it assuming light pollution. 

Mark

[Paz]

13 minutes ago, markclaire50 said:

Hi Paz. I was going to have another go with my 80mm ed and 127mm mak, but lurking clouds put me off. You make an interesting point that other members may know about more than I do, regardi g magnitude. A diffuse object like a comet with magnitude 10.3 is, I believe, not equivalent to same magnitude as a star, because the light is spread out more, rather than over a point source. But I'm not sure of the mathematical relationship. Probably something related to unit brightness per arcsecond. I'd read that Iwamoto was already out of range of scopes less than 150mm at start of week. At present time, I don't know what minimum aperture would be to visually detect it assuming light pollution. 

Mark

Yes magnitude measures don't mean the same thing in terms of how easy it is to see point sources as for extended objects. I mention star magnitudes only because it gives a rough measure of what might be doable. I could see over 1.5 magnitudes deeper than my last attempt and thought I might see the core as that is closer to a point source but no luck. I think moonlight, light pollution, thin cloud coming and going, and not being very dark adapted didn't help.

If it's clear at the weekend I'm going to bring out the light bucket!

[markclaire50]

23 minutes ago, Paz said:

Yes magnitude measures don't mean the same thing in terms of how easy it is to see point sources as for extended objects. I mention star magnitudes only because it gives a rough measure of what might be doable. I could see over 1.5 magnitudes deeper than my last attempt and thought I might see the core as that is closer to a point source but no luck. I think moonlight, light pollution, thin cloud coming and going, and not being very dark adapted didn't help.

If it's clear at the weekend I'm going to bring out the light bucket!

What aperture is your light bucket? 

[Paz]

7 hours ago, markclaire50 said:

What aperture is your light bucket? 

It's a 350mm Newtonian. I don't know if that will do any better as everything will be brighter including any background sky glow but the moon will be less of a problem and at least I will have tried everything.

[markclaire50]

4 hours ago, Paz said:

It's a 350mm Newtonian. I don't know if that will do any better as everything will be brighter including any background sky glow but the moon will be less of a problem and at least I will have tried everything.

If that doesn't work, what would! 

[Paz]

11 minutes ago, markclaire50 said:

If that doesn't work, what would! 

I think dark skies is the answer, especially if trying for the halo. My big scope might spot the core by brute force from my light polluted back yard but my guess is a smaller scopes with a wider field of view and from a dark site would have better chances of seeing the halo.

I don't know if any more experienced colleagues have any tips, as I may not be on the right track.

[markclaire50]

3 hours ago, Paz said:

I think dark skies is the answer, especially if trying for the halo. My big scope might spot the core by brute force from my light polluted back yard but my guess is a smaller scopes with a wider field of view and from a dark site would have better chances of seeing the halo.

I don't know if any more experienced colleagues have any tips, as I may not be on the right track.

Well at one point, probably too late now, I planned to use my 80mm ed with a TV 25 mm to maximise the contrast with effectively 24x80 monocular! Doubt it would be in range now, magnitude-wise. 

[Mark at Beaufort]

I decided to hunt down this Comet using my Heritage 130P. I had already seen it with various instruments.

I started by checking the RA and Dec and transferring that info into my Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas. I started my star hopping using Theta Gemini and used my 30mm Revelation EP which gives 22X and 3 degrees 11 minutes FOV. I found the location and transfer to my TeleVue 8-24 zoom. Using mags between 12mm and 16mm I could see the diffused smudge of the Comet. They was a row of stars beneath which I check against Stellarium to confirm its location.

So although very faint I was able to see the Comet in my 5" Newt.

[Mark at Beaufort]

You should be able to see the Comet in an 80mm Frac if you don't have too much LP. Try and pick up this line of stars which will confirm the location.

[Davey-T]

And tonights winner is Sky Safari, just been trying to image it with 10"SCT Atik3134 before the Moon popped up and not even in the FOV using Stellarium co-ords Sky Safari spot on.

Can't see why they differ, sometimes one is right sometimes the other, maybe they update at different times ?

Anyway nicely placed ATM high in the sky.

Dave

[Davesellars]

Wow this was an Incredibly diffuse smudge (just about) observed tonight with the 120ST before the Moon started to light up the sky.  Being so early though I had some local LP to deal with shielding out mainly lights from windows).   It was however crystal clear.   I used Sky Safari to get the location - easy enough to star-hop to at least! Could not see any core to speak but wasn't sure what to expect...

[Davey-T]

Hard to find with DSLR and 200mm lens tonight, very diffuse now, star hopped from Castor via a few Gem stars and still had a job to see it on the DSLR screen even though the surrounding stars were there.

Dave

 

[markclaire50]

Well, I decided to risk setting up my scope, after assessing the risk of clouds. 

Finally got sky safari to communicate with synscan pro to guide mount to location where iwamoto should be. Given that the mount usually settles off target (not really the mounts fault) I used the star pattern shown on my phone to correct fov. I'm sure I was staring at the right place at right time. But I couldn't detect it, even with averted vision. Of course looking at sky safari, then through scope which flips image, was hard for me to be sure. However, afterwards I figured out that I could flip the horizontal in SS 6 PRO. The image then looked exactly as it had through scope. No doubt I was looking in right area. I was using the four stars near iwamoto to direct my attention to correct spot. I'm confident I was looking at the location of comet. I just couldn't actually see it! ?. Here is snapshot of time and location. I used the 'arrow' of stars on upper left, as they looked through scope. I could also use the angular seperation of the arrow stars to project distance to comet. If it had been visible to my eyes, I'd have seen it. I Suspect that only by sticking my Dslr on a 30s to 1 min exposure would I have confirmed its presence. Maybe if clear again over next three days, I'll figure out how to do that. I've not tried AP with the scope yet. 

B4 I forget, I used TV25 mm lens then 8-24mm baader zoom. No luck all way up to 8mm. 

Mark