Comet C/2020 M3 Atlas

[John]

Anyone observed this comet yet ?

According to the "Heavens Above" website and Cartes du Ciel, it is currently a bit brighter than magnitude 8 and in Lepus and soon to be in Orion. It will be just 1.25 degrees from Rigel on the 4th November so easy to find if you can wait until Orion has risen fully.

 

 

[Roy Challen]

Had a go early this morning with the bins, the moon was in the worst place possible and only just past full so just washed everything out. I'll be keeping an eye or two on this one though.

[pjsmith_6198]

I observed  M3 ATLAS last night.  It was pretty large and diffuse and difficult to see. It's close to Rigel and the location is easy to find.  The Moon made it more difficult. but luckily, the Moon will be going away.    Best to use a  low magnification EP.   I have a Lumicon Comet filter and it did respond a bit to that.  Made it a little easier but not much.   TheLiveSky.com has it at mag 8.6.  but it's harder than the magnitude suggests because it is large and diffuse.

 

Phil

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, pjsmith_6198 said:

I observed  M3 ATLAS last night.  It was pretty large and diffuse and difficult to see. It's close to Rigel and the location is easy to find.  The Moon made it more difficult. but luckily, the Moon will be going away.    Best to use a  low magnification EP.   I have a Lumicon Comet filter and it did respond a bit to that.  Made it a little easier but not much.   TheLiveSky.com has it at mag 8.6.  but it's harder than the magnitude suggests because it is large and diffuse.

 

Phil

Great observing, Phil. How do you find the comet filter? I’ve often wondered about getting one of those. 

[pjsmith_6198]

I think it's worth having if you are into chasing comets as I am.   It  only helps if  the comet's coma or tail is ionized.  It filters at the OIII 501 nm line and the C2 511 nm and 514 nm lines.   It doesn't help if the comet is just throwing off dust.  Actually another way of thinking about it is if you can see the comet without the filter and it disappears with the filter you know there isn't much ionization going on and the comet is mostly dust.   Sometimes the comet  is faint without the filter  and faint or even fainter with the filter.  Those comets you know they are ionized because the filter would completely kill it if there was nothing coming through the OIII and C2 lines.    There have been only a couple of comets I've only been able to see with the filter. 

I think the filter works best with the diffuse comets especially  when they are near perihelion, such as M3 ATLAS or U6 Lemmon.    I watched comet c/2017 T2 PANSTARRS from last November to mid July and for most of  the time the filter didn't help at all, but high magnification did.  Only when the coma got larger near perihelion did it respond to the comet filter.   So it was pretty cool to be able to track it and be able to see when it starts ionizing.

Also I think the darker the skies you have the better it will work.   I live in a dark red zone and I'm pretty sure I'm missing detail because the background sky is too bright even with the filter.

Also try it on emission or planetary nebulas and you'll get slightly different views than with with UHC or OIII.  

I hope this helps,

Phil

 

[Littleguy80]

Thanks Phil. Really helpful  

[Paul M]

I'm very distracted at the moment even though I'm on my "holidays" (shift break), I wasn't aware of this one! I'll hopefully get a go once the Moon exits stage left...If this cloud ever goes!

I will use an eyepiece first, that way I won't miss it completely while fighting imaging technology.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hope to have a go this weekend, weather permitting

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Got it! Not easy in moonlight, but I spotted a vague hazy blob in the right location, first with the Nagler 31T5 in the Meade SN6 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton (24.5x) and slightly better using the 22T4 Nagler (34.6x). The blob moved with the stars if I moved the scope, so wasn't likely to be some internal reflection somewhere in the optics. The SN6 is really proving to be a great comet hunter

[Victor Boesen]

I've been lurking in this thread for some time while also keeping an eye on clearoutside and Stellarium for its location in the sky. Luckily the heavens decided to play along last night/early morning so I got to image it with my Samyang 135mm F2 right besides the Orion nebula. The core looks quite dim compared to surrounding stars so I can imagine it's very difficult to catch visually!

Victor

[Muc]

First clear skies last night in two weeks, caught it in the 4"  Astroscan. Took a while to match the stars in the field of view at 16x to the finder charts. While deep in star Hopping I noticed the vague mist. Stood out a touch more at 30x. Will track it night by night weather permitting. Nice mid week buzz

[Nyctimene]

Spotted comet C/2020 M3 ATLAS yesterday before midnight under murky and mostly clouded 4.0 - 4.5 NELM skies. With the 8"f/4 Hofheim traveldob and the new Docter 12.5mmf/84° UWA, giving 64x mag, the comet was found easily close S to Bellatrix. A large, diffuse patch, about 7.6 - 7.8 mag total; inner coma about 3 arc min, outer coma extending to almost 15 arc min. DC (degree of condensation) about 3 - 4. No tail visible. Stellar pseudonucleus sometimes flashing up.

A short sweep through the Auriga clusters, M 35+2158, M 42; the Docter giving again very crisp views across the whole field of view - no need to switch to another eyepiece. After thirty minutes, the cloud cover closed almost completely; but still a rewarding short session.

Stephan

[Mark at Beaufort]

Too many clouds recently. Last night I had a clear patch so went looking for the Comet. I used my Apollo 15x70 binos and checking with Stellarium I could match the star field. It took a while but eventually I could make out a misty patch.

Not really satisfied with that observation I woke up at 4am to a clear sky. I took out my Heritage 130P and used my ES68 24mm and my new SvBONY 10-30mm to track down the Comet. Found it and was able to confirm the 'misty' patch in more details. Its faintish so could easily be missed.

Anyway good to catch it.

[John]

This comet is just above Orion's right "shoulder" tonight. Might get a chance later to have a look at it if the forecast is to be believed.

I'd better watch out for "Attack ships on fire ....." as well

 

 

[Littleguy80]

Managed to pick this up tonight. I’d tried and failed a couple of other times under poorer conditions. Good transparency tonight. Nice hazy patch, as others described, but with a small bright core/nucleus. Quite easy to see in the 10” dob with 20mm APM HDC and then 10mm Delos. It’s been a bad run of weather lately so particularly sweet to get this. 

[John]

Well done Neil.

I've got cloud and light rain here so I've given up for tonight and bought the scope in.

 

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, John said:

Well done Neil.

I've got cloud and light rain here so I've given up for tonight and bought the scope in.

 

Thanks John. Quite windy here but I think that helped with the transparency. Everything has come in dry so not a lot of moisture around. Really enjoyed having a night out with the telescope again. 

[Muc]

Caught this in the 4" Astroscan last night again. Much harder to see this time then on my Nov 12 the report (above). Not sure if was seeing or what. There was intermittent clouds but a strong blusterly wind blowing them quickly off. I observed it just after midnight each time. I assume it's magnitude stayed roughly the same over the past 7 days?

 

[pjsmith_6198]

I observed this comet again last night.   It kind of looks like the Crab Nebula.   

 

Phil

[Nyctimene]

Observed the comet for the second time this morning 02.30 CET under slightly sub-average 4.8-5.0 NELM skies. With the 5.1" Heritage Flextube, the appearance was almost the same as a week before - a diffuse patch, the brightness seemed decreased to about 8.4; DC=3; diameter of the outer coma about 10-12 arc min. Stellar pseudonucleus, somewhat eccentrically located, rarely flashing up. Best view at about 50x mag (Seben Zoom).

A short sweep to M 42; the Trapezium nicely resolved. Not a hint of the Flame nebula, so no Horsehead attempt with a larger scope. Ended 03.10.

Stephan

[Armand Popa]

observed it last night on a bortle 7/8 city sky.... It was visible only with adverted vision in my 12" telescope. I am sure it is an easy object even in binoculars under dark sky