ANOTHER SPLIT COMET - 12:31 UT 15/04.2010

[Space Bat]

Here we go again (in a nice way)

Excellent stuff again Nick (the comet split hunter)

My only fear is you will be on TV with Jordan next

Chris

[NickH]

Richie...rotation speed is hopefully going to come from the datasets being collected this weekend...if all is well that is...and it was indeed something very odd..

Will show you the video later..have it on my laptop...it's rather nuts

Steve et al...it's a theory I have ...which is being born out at the moment...on what/where and which will split...

Jordan...well hmm yes...not exactly my favourite person... had you said with Dr Lucie Green... that would be different :-)

[NickH]

Pah! Once you've seen one, you've seen 'em all

Well done, Nick, you seem to have found your new vocation - and an exciting one at that!

Like a £1600 AO system you mean ....ROFL...

nice review Steve btw...and a good mag this month all round..!

[steppenwolf]

Like a £1600 AO system you mean ....ROFL...

Wot, your new vocation is to be a £1600 AO system? Nah, stick to comet hunting, Nick.

[RichieJarvis]

Nick - those videos were amazing! Thanks for showing...

'Captain Comet' should stick as your nickname I hope!

Cheers,

Richie

[NickH]

Been in communication with the BAA comet section this morning, who have given me huge amounts of help and advice on this. I will be re-imaging the comet based on their advice, as some of the artefacts could be trailing effects due to the speed of the comet and exposure time. I have a few 10s exposures, which using those, still show a "chevron" type shape on the comet itself, but not as dramatic as the 60s exposures. FT cannot track on the comet nucleus (we asked!), so limiting the exposure time down will be the only way.

This is all a huge learning curve for me and the input and help from various people is very much appreciated

Maybe not "Captain Comet" just yet...but I do enjoy the fun of finding things out, and if this one pans out to not be the exciting thing that the last one was, then I have learnt loads in the process..

[RichieJarvis]

Nice Nick - glad to hear the BAA is helping out too...

Its always nice to have a new challenge, and you seem to be relishing this one! All good

[NickH]

Thanks Richie.. though it was fun and a half to actually see it too with that 20" dob..what I hope comes out of all of this with Faulkes is hopefully more astro societies and kids using it for real science... if that happens, my job is done...if I get to find something, it's a bonus...but nothing more

[RichieJarvis]

Oh aye The more folks we can all inspire, the better....

Seeing the comet was a dream in the 20" dob (thanks Kev!) - like I said on the night, that was a first for me - seeing a comet with the Mark1 eyeball.... I got disillusioned with observing early on due to viewing in a badly LP'd garden, and so went to the darkside.

I got to see 3, so thanks to Nick, Kev and all who were congregated around the dob...

I know I am doing this all backwards, but finding that I am being slowly drawn to the 'light' side of observing as time goes on.... I think the difference is that nowadays cheap dobs are making all this possible... One day I might just buy a bigger dob myself - for now, will have to content myself with views through Emily's 5" IYA dob!!

Cheers,

Richie

[NickH]

Kev's Dob was outstanding...and no need for a stepladder, even at the Zenith...pretty amazing, the David Lucas models... very impressed..

5K sounds like a lot, but when you see thosw views...and could you imagine it as an imaging platform with a dobdriver/eq tilt plate...you'd be doing 60s subs rather than 15minutes...

Seeing the lane in NGC 4565, and we both saw the jet in M87 at the same place (off axis eyeball, but still something was there)...just amazing...

[RichieJarvis]

Just goes to show - can't beat aperture fever!

[NickH]

Further analysis from the BAA indicates this split could be an artefact of the imaging system on FT, combined with trailing. It was news to me, but it seems that the ALT-AZ nature of the FT scope, combined with seeing, can create these artefacts.

To resolve this (and anyone who saw the spinning comet at SGL5 will wonder "what the....???", i am running a sustained imaging run all week on the comet using vastly shorter sub frames, and stacking them.. hopefully to sort it one way or another. The BAA have been amazing on this one, very helpful and superb with input...so thank you to Dr Richard Miles as well as Charles Bell at the US Comet group for real assistance.

Learning all the time... all good!