Lulin waiting for - advice needed

[Giovanni]

I am planning to go observe Lulin next week along with my 8yo son's classmates, I will have to go school first to explain what we are gonna do/watch, where can I start from?

thanks

[dark knight]

Comet Lulin is an unusual comet in that it's orbit goes in the opposite direction to the planets, it has a tail and an anti tale and was discovered in 1997. It still retains it's original gaseous clouds which do not appear to have been stripped away. Try

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/01/14/comet-lulin-is-on-the-way/

[Sam]

Hi Giovanni,

It might be worth starting with some general information on what comets are, what they are made of and where they come from. Wikipedia has some great info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comets

and here's the page on Comet Lulin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Lulin

Sam

[mdstuart]

Also you need to be aware that Lulin does not rise above the horizen until quite late, about 11pm I think at the moment..It is in Virgo...

[scotastro]

By the 24th Lulin is very close to Saturn so you could look at both. Saturn will make it easier to find too. It should be high enough by 9pm - depending on your surroundings.

Mike

[Barry W]

I didn't stay out late enough to see it myself, but here's a report from another person in my local area from last night if it helps -

"..I walked out of the dome shortly before midnight. I suddenly remembered the comet Lulin. Earlier in the day I had printed out a chart of where to look in Virgo. I certainly didn't need it after all. Rather easily seen naked eye was a small soft glow to the NW of alpha Virgo. When I looked at it through my ED 80 refractor at 23 X it showed as an about 15-20 minute pale green glow with a brighter core and what I preceived as a stellar peudo nucleus. As I dialed up the magnification with the zoom eyepiece it became apparent that this pseudo-pseudo nucleus was actually a field star shining through the glow..."

I'm looking forward to my first sight of this myself.

Cheers,

Barry