Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

[andrew63]

Well I never expected to get a view of 12P this early - but I did this evening! At around 18.45, conditions were atrocious, rolling clouds and hazy misty sky, but got in the area and waited for a patch. With my 4" F5 was not sure at x19, but at x40 in a 12.5 ortho. it popped out. Compared to recent views with comet H2, it was smaller and much less diffuse, so I thought easier to observe - a brighter ball.  As to brightness, I'd say around 9th magnitude or brighter. Even in the less than perfect seeing conditions, it was relatively easy to spot. This is hopefully going to be a fine comet to view approaching Christmas, although not sure how long this present outburst will last, so grab a chance. ☄️

[andrew63]

Another view of comet 12P this evening, in better conditions. Again x40 mag. and it was still readily visible. I'm unsure if it has faded since Saturday, it might have a bit, but given the influence of the brightening Moon, I think it must be holding up quite well. Some intriguing new images of the comet on Spaceweather.com

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=201842

[Geoff Lister]

And in January; direct from my Seestar S50:-

Geoff

[Plane38]

Had a look tonight and was surprised how easy it was to see through 8x42 binoculars. I would estimate it at about magnitude 6.

[andrew63]

Yes agree, I had a look about 7.30 before it got to low -  in 8x42 binoculars it's a bright object. M31 was not far above so it was a good guide scanning between the two. I also took an image of the area with my iPhone, and it shows up well !

 

 

[Geoff Lister]

It is now much brighter than it was in January (see my posting above)

Just 6 stacked frames, and, recording for a bit longer

Geoff

[JeremyS]

Splendid 👍🏻

[Owmuchonomy]

Easy spot on Friday night with the ED80.  I was doing a gig at Broughton Hall and the visitors loved it.  I would estimate mag 6 ish.  Faint tail.

[Nicola Fletcher]

I found it pretty easily with 10 x 50 binoculars last night at 9pm. I navigated from Alpheratz and I thought it was fairly bright and an easy target. Hoping for another clear night tomorrow to try it with a 3” refractor!

[mcrowle]

I too had another look at Pons-Brooks tonight, with 7 x 50 binocs.

Although it has brightened apparently since I last viewed it on 29 February, it was not easy to pick out due to the rather murky conditions. Shortly afterwards, low cloud moved in, so I was glad I hadn’t set for the planned deep sky session!

Regards, Mike.

[mikeDnight]

From 3/3/24. 4" refractor.

[PeterStudz]

Fabulous sketches! Sadly the view to this is totally obscured from my house. Might give a go at looking somewhere else. That’s if we ever get a clear evening. 

[mcrowle]

2 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Fabulous sketches! Sadly the view to this is totally obscured from my house. Might give a go at looking somewhere else. That’s if we ever get a clear evening. 

Yes, I have to do the same as I cannot see westwards from my observing location. There are some places along (currently very muddy) footpaths nearby that I can observe from with binoculars, and/or image with a star tracker and short telephoto.

This was the comet last night, the tail showing nicely to the camera (though not to the eye, via 7 x 50s).

Regards, Mike.

Edited March 5 by mcrowle

[John]

Just managed a nice view of this comet with my 11x70 binoculars. I used the star Alpheratz in Andromeda as starting point then went N a bit from there. The comet seems quite bright with the 11x70's, perhaps slightly wedge shaped ?

It's in a part of the sky that is difficult to observe for me and just about impossible to get a scope onto it so the binocular view will have to suffice.

I'm glad that I've seen it though 🙂

[mcrowle]

Transparency is looking better tonight, so going out for another look.

Regards, Mike.

[Kon]

I just got my first glimpse of it. It is rather bright even at the 9x50 finderscope,  but I could not observe any tail.

[paulastro]

Went out earlier, and despite me seeing no stars lower than Jupiter and  12P/Pons-Brook in that direction, the Seestar S50 managed to obtain some frames to stack.

Despite indicating 13mts of exposure, it was only 5mts 40 seconds.  I  noticed that cloud had completely enveloped the comet only when I had a message saying that it could no longer  enhance the image as there were too few stars visible!   I thought the S50 had frozen when in actual fact it was waiting for the stars to come out again, which they didn't!  Lucky to get 5mts worth.

Looking  at the nucleus of the comet it looks quite elongated.  It almost looks as if it may even be breaking up or perhaps sending  out material in different directions?

Perhaps the elongation is the movement of the comet due to the S50 tracking on the stars?

 

  

 

 

Edited March 5 by paulastro
Typo

[Geoff Lister]

2 hours ago, paulastro said:

Perhaps the elongation is the movement of the comet due to the S50 tracking on the stars?

I was watching the image build up on my tablet's screen, and it started round and then elongated.

Once 12P had dropped below my local roof line, I went for 144P, about 10 degrees above Bellatrix,

and then 62P about 10 degrees below-east of Denebola.

After 7 minutes on 62P, the display remained stuck on 4 minutes stacked, so I stopped capture, turned on anti-dew and resumed capture. I like the way the Seestar offers the option of Restart or Continue.

Geoff

Edited March 5 by Geoff Lister
Pictures added

[mikeDnight]

Fantastic image Paul! 

[John]

Just managed to get a scope on 12P Pons-Brooks by standing in a flower bed right at the furthest end of the garden !

Nice looking comet - quite a bright nucleus now. No obvious tail with the 102mm refractor although averted vision / imagination suggested a direction that it might lie in. I'll be interested to see the images taken tonight to see if my eye was playing tricks on me 🙂

[Geoff Lister]

As requested, hot off the tablet from another part of North Somerset

I managed to see it at the same time that the Seestar was capturing - I just stood directly behind it and pointed my binoculars at the same angle as the alt. axis.

Whilst downloading this image, the Seestar app is stacking 13P/Olbers.

Geoff

 

[Paul M]

17 minutes ago, Geoff Lister said:

As requested, hot off the tablet from another part of North Somerset

I managed to see it at the same time that the Seestar was capturing - I just stood directly behind it and pointed my binoculars at the same angle as the alt. axis.

Whilst downloading this image, the Seestar app is stacking 13P/Olbers.

Geoff

 

I'm loving these images from your Seestar Geoff!

Ths is a fine looking comet and you do it great justice. Unfortunately, low in the west isn't good from home for me.

I think that if they isssue a firmwear that can stack on a comet or other "moving" object, astrophotography will enter a new era.... actually, it has already but, anyway, you get my train of thought!  

[Geoff Lister]

1 hour ago, Paul M said:

I think that if they isssue a firmwear that can stack on a comet or other "moving" object, astrophotography will enter a new era.... actually, it has already but, anyway, you get my train of thought!  

I think that ZWO has done a great job with the Seestar - an image building-up on your screen in real-time, downloaded direct to your tablet/phone as soon as you stop capture (and with text showing basic location/date/time/target name details) and the storing of the original captures for later post-processing if you wish. No need to level the mount, or polar align; prior to the initial capture, it works out its non-level mount correction data, and then takes a set of dark frames.

Geoff

[mcrowle]

As mentioned, I headed out to the footpath (thankfully now less muddy) last night for another look at Pons-Brooks. I'm not sure after all whether the transparency was better, as unfortunately there were now a couple of floodlights affecting my night vision at the location (they appeared to be illuminating an entirely deserted outdoor basketball court). 

Despite this, the comet was easily visible in the 7 x 50s, and the tail was clearly longer in the photo frames. Here's a slightly cropped 135mm lens image, which is from a stack of 22 x 30 sec frames (with Starnet++ having been employed to temporarily remove the stars before stretching the contrast).

Regards, Mike.

Edited March 6 by mcrowle
typo

[Mark at Beaufort]

I set up my 90mm Frac (using it with a 24mm EP + an erect prism diagonal) plus the 150P Newt and went searching for the Comet.

It was low down and in fact it was situated between a gap between trees. I found it by starting with the Andromeda Galaxy and moved down.

It was fairly bright but could not see a tail.