Comet 21/Borisov where to see? Need help with pointing scope using coordinates with Nexstar GT

[ju1234]

I was wanting to see the Comet 21/Borisov tonight. For location of this comet, only reference I found on line is using coordinates. I have never used coordinates to point my GOTO scope yet. So, please help.

I have a Tasco 4.5" with Starguide Hand controller which is same as Nexstar GT. Going through the manual, it tells me how to slew to various objects using the built in lists in the controller. I did not find how I can enter the coordinates to find an object. Please guide.

Also, if you know a known star/ planet or other known object which is close to the comet 21, I can just enter that object in the scope.

Thanks.

[happy-kat]

Hi

Do you know how old your telescope and hand control is?

This might help know if you have the original hand control or a later one.

If it is the early one I gather on googling it has 2823 stars in the database, hopefully one of those is located near the comet at time of observing.

If the later one the list is bigger but from the little I've found to read it wasn't obvious that you can enter your own coordinates so I think your best bet is on the observing night use your lowest powered eye piece and pick a star from the catalog that is nearest to the comet.

When I've observed comets I've had a good experience using binoculars 8*42 

Edited December 8, 2019 by happy-kat

[John]

Here is quite a bit of information about the comet and it's current location and brightness:

https://theskylive.com/c2019q4-info

According to that it is magnitude 16 which would need a very large aperture scope to see.

[ju1234]

Thank you, Happy Kat and John.

I found the way to enter both RA/DEC or Alt/AZ info in the scope.

I have looked at the skylive.com site and few others. They give the real time location data. However I ran into the following problems:

I am in Dallas, Tx, latitude 32. The location data is only in RA/DEC. It does give altitude number but not AZ number. I also have poor understanding of RA/DEC system.

The numbers for this morning 7.40AM were: RA 11,28,21 and Dec -18,20,16. I have never set my scope using coordinates before but when I enter these numbers, the scope slews to below horizon although the Altitude number for this time is 35 degrees. Last night it was same thing with RA 11,25,54 and Dec -17,12,08, however at that time the comet was supposed to be below horizon.

Is there a source to see the location numbers in Alt/AZ (my scope mount is ALT/AZ and Nexstar is set to alt/az system) or some easy conversion system (the one I found is lengthy calculations beyond my understanding at this time).

Appreciate some guidance.

 

 

[Brutha]

Do you have the free Stellarium program? You can add the comet (configuration / Plugins / Solar System Editor / Configure  - click "Import Orbital Elements". I chose "MPCs list of observable comets". 

Then you can see for a given time the position in the sky of the comet at your location. It gives both Alt/Az and RA/DEC co-ordinates. BUT - I would be very surprised if a 4.5" scope will show it (I am no expert however!).