the upcoming comet

[charmedkelly]

hi all i have posted this before but i cudnt get on with the site that a memeber sent me i know theres a comet coming around this month just would like to no where and when to see it , would love to see my first comet

thankyou so much

xxx

happy viewing

[Psychobilly]

At a guess its probably C-2009 R1 Mc Naught...

Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught

Peter...

[charmedkelly]

can i see that tonight ??

[John]

can i see that tonight ??

It's Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught as Peter says.

I've just picked this one up with 15x70 binoculars, low down towards the north east. The comet looks a bit like a globular cluster, ie: a fuzzy spot, more condensed towards the centre. It's magnitude 6 at the moment so not difficult to spot. Had a peek with my 4" refractor and it's a nice view but still basically a centrally condensed fuzzy blob. No obvious tail that I could see although I had a sense (not more than that) of elongation in one direction when I used averted vision.

Always nice to see a comet

[abumuhannadh]

sorry for being off topic, but why is that Stellarium show a magnitude higher than 9 for this comet? is there a way to correct it?

[Talitha]

My Sky Tools 3 program lets me download the latest online updates regarding current comets, asteroids, novae and supernovae.. does Stellarium have anything like that? I just updated and the comet is listed as a magnitude 5.8.

[russ]

We had a look on Saturday night. It's as John describes at low power with binos or smaller apertures. Appearing as a small glob and really not that impressive. Everyone was quite disappointed, that was until we turned the 12" dob on it. Straight away we could see it was elongated to one side, and then with further viewing, hints of a tail began to appear.

[Psychobilly]

The colour helps a lot as well...

I cant see it from the home obs doesnt clear the trees until about 02:30 and isnt positioned nicely in a clear frame until after 03:00 by which time its way to light to do anything "photographically"...

Peter...

[charmedkelly]

im sure i was told about a comet that u can see with the naked eye about the 22nd of this month

[charmedkelly]

or if anyone can help me find thsi comet mcnaught where do i look lol

[John]

or if anyone can help me find thsi comet mcnaught where do i look lol

This might help:

Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught Finder Map

At magnitude 5 it could be naked eye if your skies are dark enough - it's not a great time of the year for dark skies though

[OptiGone]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I am having trouble finding the comet on Stellarium..

When using the 'Find Object' feature it only finds C2006 P1 McNaught which isnt visible at any time by the looks of it (well not from Suffolk anyway:D).

What am i doing wrong?

[charmedkelly]

oh can u check out this comet on stellarium i never knew that

[John]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I am having trouble finding the comet on Stellarium..

When using the 'Find Object' feature it only finds C2006 P1 McNaught which isnt visible at any time by the looks of it (well not from Suffolk anyway:D).

What am i doing wrong?

I think there are a number of Comet McNaught's

But I'm not a Stellarium user so can't comment on that. I tend to use the Heavens Above web site to check the positions of visible comets.

[abumuhannadh]

stellarium does not have it.

it needs to be put in there

just add this code behind all other planet codes in your Stellarium config ssytem.ini file

[McNaughtC2009R1]

name = Comet McNaught C/2009 R1

parent = Sun

coord_func = comet_orbit

orbit_Eccentricity = 1.000364802103032

orbit_PericenterDistance = 0.4050601222049050

orbit_Inclination = 77.03011968256843

orbit_AscendingNode = 322.6222144089146

orbit_ArgOfPericenter = 130.6977262706266

orbit_TimeAtPericenter = 2455380.179185300134

radius = 1000

oblateness = 0.0

albedo = 0.8

lighting = true

halo = true

color = 1.0,1.0,1.0

tex_halo = star16x16.png

tex_map = deimos.png

make sure you save a copy of the original first in case you mess up.

-Abu Muhannadh-

[oshb5]

First comet provided i can get the scope up and running

[klytus]

Thanks for the Stellarium config info Abu, be nice to see McNaught in the night sky. Always remember how thrilled my wife Gill and i were when we saw Halle-Bopp through binoculars.

[abumuhannadh]

unfortunately, i can only view it in Stellarium. it gets too bright here when the comet rises.

i thought being nearer to equator is all good. but in this case it definitely is not

[OptiGone]

Abu - Thanks for the heads up with the script, works perfectly.

[The Sailor]

Abu, thank you for that

Jim

[ezza123]

If anyone has an IPhone Pocket Universe has the option to add the comet to your virtual sky also, if your on the move - it can be helpful - I was off to have a look for it tonight, although north Hampshire is looking a tad cloudy at the moment!

[ampleamp]

ezza, thanks for that reminder, never thought to look there