Iwamoto- success stories?

[Paz]

I had one last go tonight as it's going to be cloudy for a long time after today. I tried the VX 14 at 59x and 106x but saw nothing. I certainly had the exact spot pinned down and looked for a long time. Sometimes I thought I could imagine a smudge but no confirmed sighting of halo or core in the end. I could see field stars down to Mag 12.8 but the background sky was bright grey from the LP and moonlight.

[Davey-T]

9 hours ago, markclaire50 said:

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!

Yep it was very faint and diffuse last night, I had the same problem, right  stars on the DSLR image but could hardly see the comet on a 30 second exposure, see my pic above.

Probably better at the 24mm end of the zoom, good luck.

Dave

[markclaire50]

3 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Yep it was very faint and diffuse last night, I had the same problem, right  stars on the DSLR image but could hardly see the comet on a 30 second exposure, see my pic above.

Probably better at the 24mm end of the zoom, good luck.

Dave

Hi Dave 

I can't see an photo attached? 

Mark

[Davey-T]

2 minutes ago, markclaire50 said:

Hi Dave 

I can't see an photo attached? 

Mark

It's back a few posts on the previous page.

Dave

[markclaire50]

15 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

It's back a few posts on the previous page.

Dave

Ah yes. I couldn't see any smudge on the photo, which means it would be pretty damned hard to see visually.! I fear it has passed on.... ?

[Mark at Beaufort]

Viewed the Comet again tonight (21.30) in the Heritage 130P starting with ES68 24mm then switching to TeleVue 8-24 at 12mm. The Comet is about 4 degrees from Mahasim (Auriga) and appears to be slighly fainter than M78. There is a set of stars that can be defined into a pattern to make things easier.

If the sky remains clear over the next few nights I will use the 12" Dob to get a better look.

[John]

Thanks to Mark's report above, I've just managed to pick Comet Iwamoto up again, this time with my Vixen 102mm F/6.5 ED refractor at 30x. Very easy to overlook I have to say and a pretty diffuse patch of light. Cartes du Ciel has it's position pretty much spot on.  I'd guess around magnitude 9.

Thanks for the "tip off" Mark

[John]

Comparing the brightness of Iwamoto to galaxies M82 (mag 8.4) and NGC 2903 (mag 9.7) the comet was fainter and harder to see than both of these. My sky is not too good tonight - limiting magnitude with the naked eye is around 4.5 I'd say.

 

[andrew63]

Comet 2018 Y1 is a very diffuse haze patch tonight in the ST80 - conditions are hazy here, but just barely dicernable against the brightish background sky. Still quite large, and dimmed after the last views I had around closest approach. Catch it while you can!

andrew

[markclaire50]

5 minutes ago, John said:

Comparing the brightness of Iwamoto to galaxies M82 (mag 8.4) and NGC 2903 (mag 9.7) the comet was fainter and harder to see than both of these. My sky is not too good tonight - limiting magnitude with the naked eye is around 4.5 I'd say.

 

Hi John 

According to sky safari it is magnitude 11. Did you think it was brighter? 

I tried a few days ago with the 80ed from 24 to 75x with no luck. I'm sure I had right location and before moonrise. ? Another failure. 

[John]

31 minutes ago, markclaire50 said:

Hi John 

According to sky safari it is magnitude 11. Did you think it was brighter? 

I tried a few days ago with the 80ed from 24 to 75x with no luck. I'm sure I had right location and before moonrise. ? Another failure. 

Having compared the comet to the galaxies above I'd revise my original estimate to somewhere between mag 9 and 10.  It is very diffuse though (more so than the galaxies mentioned) and just so easy to pass right by. Averted vision helps spot it but even then, it's faint.

I might well not have got it with an 80mm from here tonight.

[MKHACHFE]

I tried for the third night in a week tonight for an hour at around 9.30-10.30. I live just in Biggin Hill in southern Greater London, i have a 5 Bortle value at my location. I used this map to find it, but saw nothing. Very frustrating.

 

I used an Orion XT8 with 25mm Plossi and a shorty 2x Barlow. I'm 99% sure i was looking in the right spot as i have my red dot finder accuracy pretty spot on (kept pointing it at brighter stars to make sure i was using it correctly). But , as people have said above, there definitely was a faint haze that severely hampered viewing. Andromeda looked like i had a detached bit of skin on my retina..just a fuzz. Granted it was at around 45 degrees up, and towards central London to boot.

I have lived in central London my entire life and now i have fairly decent skies, i bought my first telescope (44 year old with a lifelong passion with all science from childhood) and love every second i'm out there. Success or no success...it's all great. 

To those who have yet to catch a glimpse, keep going, I know I will.

Would those who saw it, agree with this map i found of its location on the 23rd feb?

 

EDIT: I would estimate lowest magnitude i could see with the naked eye was 5 or JUST 6

[andrew63]

8 minutes ago, MKHACHFE said:

I tried for the third night in a week tonight for an hour at around 9.30-10.30. I live just in Biggin Hill in southern Greater London, i have a 5 Bortle value at my location. I used this map to find it, but saw nothing. Very frustrating.

 

I used an Orion XT8 with 25mm Plossi and a shorty 2x Barlow. I'm 99% sure i was looking in the right spot as i have my red dot finder accuracy pretty spot on (kept pointing it at brighter stars to make sure i was using it correctly). But , as people have said above, there definitely was a faint haze that severely hampered viewing. Andromeda looked like i had a detached bit of skin on my retina..just a fuzz. Granted it was at around 45 degrees up, and towards central London to boot.

I have lived in central London my entire life and now i have fairly decent skies, i bought my first telescope (44 year old with a lifelong passion with all science from childhood) and love every second i'm out there. Success or no success...it's all great. 

To those who have yet to catch a glimpse, keep going, I know I will.

Would those who saw it, agree with this map i found of its location on the 23rd feb?

 

EDIT: I would estimate lowest magnitude i could see with the naked eye was 5 or JUST 6

Yes around 3 deg. from theta - a bit more detail from this chart over next few days - hope you get a view.

andrew

[markclaire50]

12 minutes ago, MKHACHFE said:

I tried for the third night in a week tonight for an hour at around 9.30-10.30. I live just in Biggin Hill in southern Greater London, i have a 5 Bortle value at my location. I used this map to find it, but saw nothing. Very frustrating.

 

I used an Orion XT8 with 25mm Plossi and a shorty 2x Barlow. I'm 99% sure i was looking in the right spot as i have my red dot finder accuracy pretty spot on (kept pointing it at brighter stars to make sure i was using it correctly). But , as people have said above, there definitely was a faint haze that severely hampered viewing. Andromeda looked like i had a detached bit of skin on my retina..just a fuzz. Granted it was at around 45 degrees up, and towards central London to boot.

I have lived in central London my entire life and now i have fairly decent skies, i bought my first telescope (44 year old with a lifelong passion with all science from childhood) and love every second i'm out there. Success or no success...it's all great. 

To those who have yet to catch a glimpse, keep going, I know I will.

Would those who saw it, agree with this map i found of its location on the 23rd feb?

 

EDIT: I would estimate lowest magnitude i could see with the naked eye was 5 or JUST 6

Hi. Based on Mark from beauforts Post earlier, I'd say you were in the right place. 

[MKHACHFE]

Yeah, i browsed various sites and it seems like we are all in the right are. Thanks for the speedy replies guys. 

Quick question, i'm assuming my 8" Dob with 25mm and 2x Barlow will allow me to see this comet. Am i right? I'm aware that it has started to fade as it moves away from us. I hope i'm not too late to see it with my setup. 

I spent a whole night looking in the wrong place last week...stupid me.

 

Cheers

[John]

I would not bother with the 2x barlow, at least when initially trying to find the comet. I was using 102mm of aperture, focal length of 663mm and 21.5mm and 24mm eyepieces when I managed to see it tonight. Boosting the power (the 21.5mm is a zoom) did not seem to help see the comet even though the sky darkened a bit).

An 8 inch dob / 25mm / 2x barlow is showing around half a degree of sky at 96x - thats going to make it really difficult. With my refractor I was getting 1.3 to 2.4 degrees of sky so a fair swathe to see the comet against. 

[MKHACHFE]

1 hour ago, John said:

I would not bother with the 2x barlow, at least when initially trying to find the comet. I was using 102mm of aperture, focal length of 663mm and 21.5mm and 24mm eyepieces when I managed to see it tonight. Boosting the power (the 21.5mm is a zoom) did not seem to help see the comet even though the sky darkened a bit).

An 8 inch dob / 25mm / 2x barlow is showing around half a degree of sky at 96x - thats going to make it really difficult. With my refractor I was getting 1.3 to 2.4 degrees of sky so a fair swathe to see the comet against. 

Sorry, i should have mentioned that i wasnt using the Barlow to locate it. Just the 25mm. I get 47x with that EP..will that be enough to find it, assuming haze free skies?

 

Cheers

[Mark at Beaufort]

I was using a 5" Newt and started with my ES68 24mm which gives a mag of 27X and a FOV of 2 degrees 31 minutes. I could see it as a faint diffused smudge which I would estimate between mag 9 and 10.

My rear garden has no light pollution facing South and it has similar skies to the Lucksall site used for the SGL star party.

Hopefully if the skies are good over the next few days I will use the 12" Dob and compare more DSOs to obtain a better estimate of the Comet's magnitude.

[andrew63]

Under better conditions tonight slightly easier to spot - but challenging in the ST80 at 30x.  Just under a line of close stars framing the comet.  Around 3 deg. from M37 but much more diffuse.

andrew

 

[John]

Just picked the comet up again. Almost overhead currently but still near Theta Aurigae but below it. There is a line of three stars just above the comet in the same 70x field of view. I'm using the ED120 refractor this evening but the comet is really hard to spot here - like trying to pick up a faint face-on galaxy in a slightly hazy sky. It seems dimmer than it was last night through the 102mm refractor.

Andrew has done well to get it with an 80mm

 

 

[John]

Hazy thin cloud has thinned here - better views o the comet with the ED120 now. 14mm Delos showing it and a rather attractive starfield nicely

This Stellarium capture is currently pretty accurate in terms of position - it's a refractor / SCT / mak-cass view:

 

[andrew63]

It is on the margins tonight John -  a bare glimpse.  A haze is now rolling in here too, so that might be it for the night, Call the Midwife time!  Map spot on.

 

andrew

[John]

Found it again, this time with the 12 inch dob. Quite faint even with that aperture and low power.

 

[MKHACHFE]

OK, gorgeous, clear night in Biggin Hill, XT8 has been cooling for an hour...i'm going to try AGAIN. Not sure why i felt the need to post that.

I  will update either way later this evening. Thanks for the new maps guys. 

 

Cheers

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have just spotted the faintest of hazy blotches in my Helios LightQuest 16x80 binoculars in exactly the right spot according to the map. I will check if it moves. I think this comet needs a large exit pupil and dark skies rather than a big aperture.