Comet 103P/Hartley

[Robert Watson]

:icon_scratch:Hi All, Been out a few nights now , untill last night sky;s in N Ireland have been fab. What i would like to know has anyone seen Comet 103p/Hartley, i've been looking for it since 1st oct but still can't find it this being the 13th it's just gone past the Double Cluster in Cassiopeia so still load's of time to try and catch it if and when the sky's clear again

[Pete Presland]

you and me both had good look while the webcam was doing its business on Sunday but no luck!

[peteuplink]

I've been trying to track it down myself. I think I've seen it but I'm not 100% sure.

According to Stellarium if you put Mirphak in the centre of your view, then move left until Mirphak moves out of view (I have my Stellarium set for my bins at 10x mag, so this may be different for others) you'll find it quite close to NGC 1444

[Robert Watson]

Around the 17/18 it passes just below Capella so keeping Capella in the top of the scope mybe we'll catch it then. We should still be able to catch it right through till the end of the month

[peteuplink]

Well my attempts to find it tonight have been thwarted by a layer of moisture in the air which is reflecting all the light back to earth and drowning out the stars.

Will try again tomorrow.

[Peter Drew]

Saw it on the 9th and 10th Oct on holiday in urban Tenerife with 10x50 and again on the 11th on my return to the NW UK also in 10x50. With every due respect, some experience with comet hunting certainly helps.

[martin_h]

As of 9.30pm today(13/8/10) it was here

[Mark at Beaufort]

By using StarryNight Pro 5 I tracked it down with my 10" Dob. Last night again produced star maps from Starry Night and found it using my William Optics SD66 small frac.

I think it's an object that you need reasonable star maps to locate it and cross reference star patterns around it.

The other night I started with Gamma Persei not Mirfak. However, tonight its about 5 degrees from Mirfak situated by 4 - 6th mag stars.

Too much mist tonight for me to find it.

mark

Well done Martin - pictures are better than words

[Doc]

I saw it Sunday night but couldn't find it tonight due to the high cloud around here making seeing murky.

I even struggle with 16" of aperture so it's a tough object to see from a light polluted back garden.

[Robert Watson]

I'M not going to see much here in N Ire untill sat night so hope to try again then

[QldLiz]

I found it in binoculars 3 nights ago, but, despite being LARGE, it has a very low surface brightness.

I was scanning the area but couldnt see it, but was also taking images with camera on tripod with 50mm lens, and the comet was clear as a bell in the pics!! So, went to the area of the photo with the bins, and there it was.

It was large and round, but faint, you really know where to look.

Good luck.

ps ... there is another thread in observation/widefield that may help.