Comets 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) are brightening and are in easy to find positions

[pjsmith_6198]

Besides comet A1 Leonard, comets 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) are brightening and are in easy to find positions. Both near Castor/Pollux but not in Gemini itself.  I last observed them 2 weeks ago and they were both easy to see even with the Moon near full.  

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is in the same finder scope FOV as Iota Cancri which is a nice blue and gold double star .  This is the "Winter Albireo".   The observed magnitude for 67P from theskylive.com/comets is 8.6.    This is the comet the Rosetta mission visited

Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) is in Lynx very close to the globular cluster NGC 2419 - the Intergalactic Wanderer.  The observed magnitude from theskylive.com/comets is 9.8.   L3 ATLAS is much easier to see than NGC 2419.  It's a short hop from Castor and the hop goes through NGC 2419's position.   NGC 2419 is challenging.  To make it easier to find, there are 2 fairly bright field stars in the EP FOV.  They point directly at NGC 2419.   
Phil

[John]

2 minutes ago, pjsmith_6198 said:

Besides comet A1 Leonard, comets 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) are brightening and are in easy to find positions. Both near Castor/Pollux but not in Gemini itself.  I last observed them 2 weeks ago and they were both easy to see even with the Moon near full.  

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is in the same finder scope FOV as Iota Cancri which is a nice blue and gold double star .  This is the "Winter Albireo".   The observed magnitude for 67P from theskylive.com/comets is 8.6.    This is the comet the Rosetta mission visited

Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) is in Lynx very close to the globular cluster NGC 2419 - the Intergalactic Wanderer.  The observed magnitude from theskylive.com/comets is 9.8.   L3 ATLAS is much easier to see than NGC 2419.  It's a short hop from Castor and the hop goes through NGC 2419's position.   NGC 2419 is challenging.  To make it easier to find, there are 2 fairly bright field stars in the EP FOV.  They point directly at NGC 2419.   
Phil

Thanks Phil.

I managed to see NGC 2419 with my 100mm refractor earlier this year. It would be good to pay it another visit and if there is a comet in the same area, so much the better

 

[John]

Got NGC 2419 and Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas tonight. Both quite close in the sky but not in the same low power field of view. The comet was quite a bit brighter than the distant globular cluster and easy to spot with the 8 inch newtonian I was using. NGC 2419 somewhat less distinct but there is a chain of stars that lead to it, which helps pinpoint the spot.

 

[UniDonk]

Novice here... 🙋‍♂️

I've been trying to find L3 ATLAS tonight. I've scoured Gemini with my 130p heritage dobsonian (+25mm eyepeice), but can't find the blighter….

I'm not expecting much, a fuzzy blob perhaps, but I assume I would know it when I saw it? 

[Stu]

47 minutes ago, UniDonk said:

Novice here... 🙋‍♂️

I've been trying to find L3 ATLAS tonight. I've scoured Gemini with my 130p heritage dobsonian (+25mm eyepeice), but can't find the blighter….

I'm not expecting much, a fuzzy blob perhaps, but I assume I would know it when I saw it? 

What are your skies like? It’s quite easy for these diffuse objects to get washed out by light pollution, so get somewhere as dark as you can.

I spotted it recently from Bortle 4 skies with a 76mm refractor, so provided your conditions are ok you will definitely get it. Tonight it seems fairly easy to find, just about equidistant from Mebsuta and Tau Geminorum. Some charts here may help.

[John]

They were quite faint when I saw them last and that was with an 200mm aperture scope. Tonight's moon was bright and on the same side of the sky as the comets so I think they would have been very challenging to see at all with a 130mm.

When the moon is out of the way, you will have a better chance to spot them.

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by John

[UniDonk]

Thanks both. My skies are pretty good - on the edge of dartmoor in Devon. I think Bortle 4?

I wondered if the moon might have been causing a problem last night - it was very bright and rising, as you say, right near the area of interest. I'll try again later in the month (clouds willing..)

What am I looking for? A fuzzy blob? A long whisp? I'm not sure how much I'll be able to see

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, UniDonk said:

Thanks both. My skies are pretty good - on the edge of dartmoor in Devon. I think Bortle 4?

I wondered if the moon might have been causing a problem last night - it was very bright and rising, as you say, right near the area of interest. I'll try again later in the month (clouds willing..)

What am I looking for? A fuzzy blob? A long whisp? I'm not sure how much I'll be able to see

You will definitely get it from your skies when the moon is out of the way. In my 76mm it looked fuzzy and roundish with a brightening to the centre. I couldn’t really detect any tail; I thought perhaps it extended out in one direction but that was probably more imagination than anything real.

Just make sure you check it’s position and get to it accurately. Just panning around will likely lead to frustration. Let us know how you get on 👍

[John]

2 hours ago, UniDonk said:

What am I looking for? A fuzzy blob? A long whisp? I'm not sure how much I'll be able to see

When I last observed these comets they were both in the "small hazy patch of light slightly more condensed towards the centre" category of target. A low magnification would pick them up as something different to a star but higher magnification helps increase their contrast. No elongated form that I could see visually with these although I'm sure the imagers would do better.

For me, the fascination with 67 Churyumov-Gerasimenko was that we had sent a probe there (Rosetta in 2014) and that the Philae lander lies on the surface of the comet, stuck in a crevice. That makes the small faint patch of light just that much more interesting to observe in my opinion

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by John

[UniDonk]

@Stu can I ask what app those star charts came from? They look quite user friendly

Of course, nothing but cloud since I wrote the above so no chance to have another shot at comet hunting... 🙄

[Stu]

42 minutes ago, UniDonk said:

@Stu can I ask what app those star charts came from? They look quite user friendly

Of course, nothing but cloud since I wrote the above so no chance to have another shot at comet hunting... 🙄

They are from my favourite app, SkySafari 7 Pro. The Plus version is likely all you need and although not cheap I think it’s the best out there. They do do fairly regular half price sales so worth keeping an eye out for those. There is a free version but it is very limited in functionality.

[Pixies]

Observed ATLAS tonight. It's easy to find just now, being very close to Mebsuta:

 

It's also fairly motoring along! About 0'30" in an hour.

[bish]

I saw comet 2019 L3 ATLAS last night.well placed in Gemini. Quite Small but fairly bright in my 10".