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I must be mad...


Helen

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4 hours ago, Helen said:

Currently sat in the car at the side of a road hoping (against hope!) that the Gusty wind will shift this cloud and I'll get to spot neowise....

Hmmmm

IMG_20200706_034214.jpg

Thats a real shame Helen and doubly annoying when the opposite direction clear.

4 hours ago, John said:

Nice view here !

neowise06072020.JPG

Thats looking good John, I assume this is a mobile phone shot, but is it visible to the naked eye or is it a binocular object?

I think I might make the effort if We have any clear mornings forecast this week.

Ade

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I was out this morning - pretty clear skies but no joy unfortunately.

Venus popped up at the same time as the police, so at least I could use that as evidence for why I was hanging about on a hillside!

FYI the site was far darker than that - photo was iPhone night mode  

20C600F6-EE90-4608-A33F-EC8AB82E8955.jpeg

Edited by wormix
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I too was at the side of the road, down a one track lane at 3am looking rather dodgy. Lol

My NE wasn't too bad, but not sure if the cloud that was there was in the wrong places or the sky brightness was the problem.

This was 3am.20200706_084931.thumb.jpg.e429f1df2bb2b5f11a86c083cc6e0b27.jpg

Some are saying leave it later, but i would have thought that the sky would have been too bright at 4am. Maybe tomorrow.

Jupiter, saturn and the moon looked great huddles together. Mars was errr bright and red (i hate Mars).

Ant

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3 hours ago, AdeKing said:

 

Thats looking good John, I assume this is a mobile phone shot, but is it visible to the naked eye or is it a binocular object?

I think I might make the effort if We have any clear mornings forecast this week.

Ade

It was DSLR. 1 sec, ISO 800, 200mm FL, F/5.6. Single shot, just tweaked a bit for contrast.

Not naked eye (quite) but visible in the camera viewfinder and I would guess any optical instrument.

If it brightens a touch more it will be naked eye visible I'm sure. Might be now to the eagle eyed with low NE horizons.

Best comet for years for me :icon_biggrin:

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37 minutes ago, John said:

It was DSLR. 1 sec, ISO 800, 200mm FL, F/5.6. Single shot, just tweaked a bit for contrast.

Not naked eye (quite) but visible in the camera viewfinder and I would guess any optical instrument.

If it brightens a touch more it will be naked eye visible I'm sure. Might be now to the eagle eyed with low NE horizons.

Best comet for years for me 

Thanks John, I've got a pretty poor record of finding comets so that gives me the motivation to get up and try as it sounds like I stand a chance of finding it.

Ade

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3 hours ago, Ant said:

My NE wasn't too bad, but not sure if the cloud that was there was in the wrong places or the sky brightness was the problem.

Dont despair, I think I may have found you a comet lurking in your bright morning sky ! (heavy emphasis on 'may' ! )

and below stretched within an inch of its life ,

and a view from Stellarium. (theta Aur = Mahasim I have not figured out how to get Stellarium to prioritize greek letters :( ) )

Ant1.jpg

Ant2.jpg

stellarium-025.jpg

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3 hours ago, Ant said:

Mars was errr bright and red (i hate Mars).

How can you hate Mars, the bestest of all planets? My astronomy life life is centered around Mars oppositions...

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Is Helen still out there, nodded off in the car ?!

If I am to see it I will have to jump in my car also,,, to get 'ther side of the hill :(

lastnight I watched the (too many) scudding clouds, and reports here, and chose to photograph the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter conjunction instead !

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Helen is back, and has taken advantage of flexible working hours to have a lie in!

I gave it until 4:30 and then came home to bed.  The sky was a mixture of thick black cloud and small clear patches which got brighter and brighter ...  I generally could see capella so knew which part of horizon to scan, but clouds more persistent there.  Random camera shots showed nothing.  Got the binos out - and I might just convince myself that at one point I got a hint  (might have been something to convince myself my outing was worthwhile...🤔).  I'd started on top of local common at 3am, but it was blowing a Gale and really didn't look promising in the appropriate direction.  The views of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars were lovely though - the passing dark clouds just added atmosphere!  I'd promised Mike I would be careful, so decided not to hang around there.

On the way home I noticed an improvement so ended up just parked on a pull  in off an urban road (safe!) for an hour hoping!  It was a bit of an adventure....

Glad others got to see it though - that gives us hope!!

Helen (in need of coffee!)

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25 minutes ago, Helen said:

Helen is back, and has taken advantage of flexible working hours to have a lie in!

I gave it until 4:30 and then came home to bed.  The sky was a mixture of thick black cloud and small clear patches which got brighter and brighter ...  I generally could see capella so knew which part of horizon to scan, but clouds more persistent there.  Random camera shots showed nothing.  Got the binos out - and I might just convince myself that at one point I got a hint  (might have been something to convince myself my outing was worthwhile...🤔).  I'd started on top of local common at 3am, but it was blowing a Gale and really didn't look promising in the appropriate direction.  The views of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars were lovely though - the passing dark clouds just added atmosphere!  I'd promised Mike I would be careful, so decided not to hang around there.

On the way home I noticed an improvement so ended up just parked on a pull  in off an urban road (safe!) for an hour hoping!  It was a bit of an adventure....

Glad others got to see it though - that gives us hope!!

Helen (in need of coffee!)

I also finished around 4:30 - unfortunately I now have to look after a 4year old who thought that a 5:30 wake up time was appropriate.

So far it’s been a struggle!

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19 minutes ago, wormix said:

I also finished around 4:30 - unfortunately I now have to look after a 4year old who thought that a 5:30 wake up time was appropriate.

So far it’s been a struggle!

I feel for you!!

I'm not sure what the quality of drafting of my first research paper is going to be this afternoon. 

 

It is relevant though -it's about getting amateur astronomers involved in comet campaigns.  A couple of the arguments involve being able to observe close to the sun and low on the horizon (difficult with large scopes in domes), and being able to be mobile and flexible to take account of weather conditions.  We were the perfect case study last night😊

Helen

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34 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

yes me too. ready and waiting, even with a tripod and camera, for the forecast clouds at 0330...

Hmmm maaayyyybe I'll set an alarm!  Useless clear skies at 1am d'oh!!

Screenshot_20200706-225501_Chrome.jpg.368a9a8dbc650ede8ff09105bc56e76b.jpg

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I did get up, and sat watching clouds scuttle across from 0330 to 4 with no gap. Wrecked now. Oh well at least it'll be more convenient albeit dimmer at more usual observing hours later this month:

Neowise_Ephemeris_2330_London.JPG.ad34f33cb7881883d4475d110f28bf40.JPG

Edited by Captain Magenta
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