Comet hunting

[Ags]

I tried to get up early on Saturday morning for comet NEOWISE but I just dismissed the alarm and fell asleep instantly. I was very disappointed, but it was a good thing because the Sunday morning was much better (0% cloud on Sunday vs 45% cloud on Saturday). I set the alarm for 3AM on Sunday and this time I snapped awake. After a leisurely cup of tea and double check on the camera settings, I headed out onto the mean streets of Amsterdam looking for a low North Eastern horizon, and found one across a canal. And there was NEOWISE! Despite standing under street lights and facing a row of security lights, the comet stood out quite well. This is the second time I have seen a comet without a telescope - the only other instance being Halley, so it has been a while! I tried to fix it in my memory, but it is already fading...

Walking back I spotted Jupiter and Saturn low in the West, and saw that Mars was in conjunction with the Moon. I only have a small slice of southern sky and when I got home I could see Mars was going to be visible. I  quickly dragged out the C6 to have a look (yes, I know it is supposed to cool) but in my tiredness and eagerness I bumped the scope on a door frame and wrecked the collimation. It was really bad - nothing would come into focus! All the stars ironically looked like comets, Mars was just a blur and there was no fine detail on the Moon. Racing the lightening sky, I collimated using Polaris and then slewed back to Mars. At least by the time I had sorted out collimation the scope had had some time to cool... at 140x Mars was too bright and featureless, but improved at 200x. The southern polar cap was easily visible and could make out a thin dark edge to the polar cap. Dark regions were visible on the planet but I couldn't identify them. I tried barlowing up to 280x, and the image held together very well. Seeing was exceptionally stable.

I also had a look at the Moon - the detail was jaw dropping, but it couldn't compete with Mars.

I could see quite a bit of scatter around Mars after collimation - not sure if that is residual collimation issues (don't think so) , the scope needing to cool some more, or due to the Explore Scientific 6.7mm eyepiece I was using in combination with a super cheap Revelation achro barlow. The scatter seemed sensitive to eye position. I think I will try a Vixen SLV 6mm - I think it is a worthwhile purchase for the coming Jupiter/Saturn season. If that works out I will get a Vixen SLV 4mm for the Mars season thereafter.

[maw lod qan]

Wonderful!

[DaveL59]

Nice shot Ags!

Did take a look out of the front bedroom window last last night before going to sleep, but the bright LED lighting on the street made seeing anything hard going. Will have to take a look with binos next time and see if it shows as being up a hill that side does give a reasonable view toward N-NNW other than a few tall trees here and there. Of late I'm not so good at staying up till 2-3AM  

[Ags]

Yes, I find it harder to interrupt my sleep routine these days. But NEOWISE is rapidly becoming an evening object so that will be easier for all of us.

I'm suffering now because I was so excited about seeing the comet I couldn't get back to sleep.

[Ags]

After last night's collimation scare I finally got round to installing the Bob's Knobs I bought 6 months ago. Also I have a new Scope Transport Policy of carrying the OTA out separately from the tripod from now on.

[Marvin Jenkins]

22 minutes ago, Ags said:

After last night's collimation scare I finally got round to installing the Bob's Knobs I bought 6 months ago. Also I have a new Scope Transport Policy of carrying the OTA out separately from the tripod from now on.

I want to say thank you for completing the picture. I was looking at Neowise this morning at 4am and took in Jupiter, Saturn, Moon and Venus. Completely missed Mars!!!! How did that happen. Cheers.

Marv