Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE WAG-ging its tail

[Stu]

Sorry for yet another cheesy title.

Last night my little Astro group Walton Astro Group, or WAG for short managed an impromptu visit to Ranmore Common. The forecast looked good, but not great moving forward so it seemed like a good opportunity to see the Comet under darker skies plus to grab a look at the planets too.

I was expecting only a few of us, but at rough count there were around twelve or thirteen of us in the end, a great turn out for a little club.

When we arrived, there was a family enjoying the last of the sunset, sitting out on the grass and hoping to see the comet in their little 76mm scope. I did feel a little guilty with us all arriving en mass and shattering their peace! I did apologise and they seemed fine, and I pointed Jupiter and Saturn out to them too which they hadn’t seen. They saw the Comet in the scope and naked eye before they left so seemed happy.

We were socially distancing so didn’t share views generally, although Gavin was able to clean his NV kit and let one or two people look through that too. We had a variety of scopes from a CPC1100 beastie, a 4SE and a 127mm Mak and a range of fracs from 152mm down to 70mm ish I think.

I had my Genesis and Tak, plus the Heritage 130mm just for a little more aperture which I swapped on and off the Ercole on the Gitzo. The Comet looked great through all the scopes really, a little brighter in the Heritage but a bit more contrast in the fracs. I could definitely detect the greenish hue to it this time, perhaps because of the better skies than at home.

As the skies got darker, the Milky Way showed up more and towards the time we left, just about reaching Astro darkness, the Cygnus Rift was clearly visible, not something I see often except when away on holiday. I had a lovely time exploring some of the MW objects, M8, M20, M16 and 17. The Sagittarius star cloud M24 was beautiful, not the best I’ve seen it but great to see again. M11 was wonderful, I forget how nice this is at higher power under a dark sky. The Heritage won out here with its aperture giving a little better resolution, same for M22 the glob which rivals M13, possibly beats it.

I thought I would have a go at my old favourites the Veil and NAN and wasn’t disappointed. Using the Genesis with 24mm Panoptic I get a 3.26 degree field, just enough to squeeze the whole lot in, but not as comfortable as with a 30mm 82 degree eyepiece which I am lacking currently. I must sort that out! I did try the 40mm 68 degree and although it gives over 5.4 degrees of sky, it also gives an 8mm exit pupil so was more washed out and didn’t show the parts as clearly as the 24mm. East and Western Veil were clear, with some detail showing up including the two ‘hooks’ in the Eastern Veil and the split in the Witch’s Broom. Pickering's Triangle was there but not that obvious to be honest, I’ve seen it much better through this scope but I was grateful for the views I was able to get. The NAN was relatively clear, although again I’ve seen it much better and more clearly defined; the skies were only Mag 20.2 at best but still, wonderful to see it again, I wasn’t expecting it when we planned this trip at the last minute.

Finally we had a go at the planets. I tried the Genesis first and to be honest I was surprised at how good it was. False colour really not that obvious and good banding detail beyond the two main belts. The GRS was visible in all three scopes, but the Tak did show its class giving the clearest of all, with a smidge more fine detail visible. I tried binoviewing as I was seeing annoying floaters at highest power, and whilst this addressed the floater issue, I felt like I was losing a little of the detail still. It may have been that the focus balance between eyes needed sorting out, something I should have fixed but was coming the the end of the session so did not do it this time.

Gavin and I were the last two to leave and enjoyed looking up at the Milky Way whilst chatting by the cars, and also seeing Mars looking surprisingly bright and orange red; it had been hidden by a tree where we were observing so none of us looked at it through scopes unfortunately.

So, a surprisingly good session, unplanned until about midday and very well attended, showing the pent up desire to get out there and observe. I think we managed responsibly to follow social distancing guidelines whilst still being able to interact and enjoy observing the stars together.

I should have taken more pictures of the group together but didn’t unfortunately. Here is my one and only comet picture, hand held for a few seconds exposure. Not great, but a reminder at least.

[JeremyS]

Sounds like a fun and productive night @Stu

That title reminded me of aged Stilton 🙂

 

[John]

What a nice report Stu

I'm looking forward to some group observing again, hopefully in the not too distant future.

 

 

 

[Stardaze]

Nice write up @Stu 

Reminds me that I need to get mobile and find a spot for Sagittarius, as it is a touch too low for me at home. There’s plenty there to observe and another area I’m yet to explore, thanks for the reminder.

[F15Rules]

55 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Sounds like a fun and productive night @Stu

That title reminded me of aged Stilton 🙂

 

My thoughts were exactly in the same vein Stu..🥴😁.

Seriously, thanks for sharing and your enthusiasm for your Astro group really comes across. 

Nice pic of the comet too - can you believe I haven't actually seen it myself yet!

Dave

[Stu]

41 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

My thoughts were exactly in the same vein Stu..🥴😁.

Seriously, thanks for sharing and your enthusiasm for your Astro group really comes across. 

Nice pic of the comet too - can you believe I haven't actually seen it myself yet!

Dave

Awful Dave 🤣😉😱

We has a fun evening, really good to be out.

That’s a shame, presumably weather and opportunity have not coincided? Do try to have a look before it fades too much. It is already a fair bit dimmer than when it first appeared, though higher up so easier to catch sight of.

[JeremyS]

50 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

My thoughts were exactly in the same vein Stu..🥴😁.

Seriously, thanks for sharing and your enthusiasm for your Astro group really comes across. 

Nice pic of the comet too - can you believe I haven't actually seen it myself yet!

Dave

I hope you get the opportunity to see the comet, Dave. The ancients saw comets with impressive tails, like this one, as a dagger in the sky. I think it looks more like a handle 🤣

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Awful Dave 🤣😉😱

We has a fun evening, really good to be out.

That’s a shame, presumably weather and opportunity have not coincided? Do try to have a look before it fades too much. It is already a fair bit dimmer than when it first appeared, though higher up so easier to catch sight of.

Thanks Stu..

Yes, circumstances really. We've been shielding my 87 year old mother in law for 18 weeks today and we are both pretty near to the end of our tether now..our lives have just been taken over in a way we could not have envisaged, I'll say no more than that.

We have had a couple of lovely nights in the last few days and I've just been too exhausted to contemplate getting out. 

But we are hoping against hope that she will be able to go home on 2nd August, although if I'm going to get a good view of the comet I guess I'll have to do it before then, plus the moon will be back soon.

I'll make a concerted effort to get out later this week if possible. In the meantime it's great to read reports like yours on SGL, builds up the enthusiasm to get out!😉🌝

Dave

Edited July 21, 2020 by F15Rules
Typo

[Stu]

Sounds tough Dave, not easy at all.

Even a wander with a pair of binos is worthwhile I reckon, might just keep you sane! 👍

[chiltonstar]

Good that some club groups have managed to assemble! Lovel report.

Chris

 

[IB20]

Just had 20 mins break in the cloud so grabbed another neb at Neowise with 8x42s. Certainly more diffuse and a bit greener now. Still a wonderful looking thing. Then turned my attention to flitting between La Superba and Mu Cephei 🔴🟠🔴🟠🔴🟠 before the clouds returned.