Can't find Comet Neat

Hi all,
I am fairly new to Astronomy. I have been observing for about one year now and my search skills are improving slowly.. However, I cannot locate comet Neat. I have been out for the last 3 clear nights with two seperate sky maps ( starry night backyard and and a map taken from this months 'Astronomy and Space ) with no luck. I have succesfully located all nearby constellations and Stars and have attempted approaching from different starting points.............I am using 10x50 canon binoculars and a red LED lamp for reading. However,my observing site suffers a little bit from light pollution.Has anyone that has seen this comet have any suggestions or similar experience locating it.
Regards
Anthony

Hi Anthony,

Welcome aboard, always good to see new converts to our hobby find their way here!

As for Neat, only saw it once myself and that was over a week ago. It has probably gotten dimmer now. I had ot get on my bike and head away from any light polution on the Western Horizon before I was able to see it clearly in 10x50 binoculars. Even then it was rather dissapointing, it looked like a small pear shapped fuzz, more like a globular cluster like M13 than a comet!

My advice would be to make sure that you have a clear, dark and unobstructed western horizon and then just keep trying. It is moving all the time so the best way to find it is constantly changing. When I was looking for it I took the beehive cluster in Cancer as a starting point but the comet will have moved considerably since then so that would be a really bad palce to start now.

Hope that is some help to you,

Bart B.,
IFAS Webmaster.

Hi Anthony,

Welcome to the discussion board!

NEAT is a fairly disappointing comet, its really just a faint smudge, I imagine you have swept past it with binoculars several times. Have a look at this image[1] taken may 16th www.pbl33.fast24.co.uk/641_4121a800_filtered.jpg

So if you are expecting anything like the long tailed image that starry night shows you'll be diappointed, take some consolation though that we all have been disappointed by this comet! Oh and the comet is not as bright as starry night says it is either. And it has faded a lot since that image was taken, its not even half as bright now.

I live in south Dublin and have saw his comet through quite bad light pollution earlier in the month, though my 8x50 Lidl binoculars, though it was brighter then.

Since you can find all the nearby stars my advice is to just try again tonight, but search more carefully for a very faint smudge of light. It seems the comets is roughly between the feet of Ursa Major tonight ("Talitha" and "Tania Borealis" in skymap) so slowly pan across that area with the binoculars and a fuzzy point of light will hopefully catch your eye.

If you still cant make it out, then I suspect the light pollution is the problem, all you can do then is find darker skies!

Good Luck!

Cheers,
~Al

[1] Taken by Pete Lawrence in Selsey, England, www.pbl33.co.uk

Hi Anthony, like the others, I welcome you aboard too!

The last time I saw it was last Tuesday, also in my 8-24 X 50's. That night, I couldn't see it with the naked eye as it was bordering naked eye visibility due to (as you would have found) upper atmospheric haze. I live in Tyrrellspass, Westmeath by the way.
A tip I will give you is to checkout www.heavens-above.com . Entering your place details (without the need for setting up a user account) will help pinpoint the location of objects in the celestial sphere.
Here is a screenshot from the site showing the location of Comet NEAT as I was typing this post:



Then, when you have an idea of here to look, take Alberts suggestion and do a slow (but not painfully slow!) sweep of the area. I found that it will appear as a large (when compared to the background stars - though its still quite small in the field of view), hazy object... akin to seeing a really huge globular cluster, very, very, VERY, far away!

Another tip too Anthony, make sure (wherever you're viewing from) your eyes have become accustomed to the night time darkness. You will have to wait till after 11pm to try and see NEAT because of the lingering twillight, so even waiting till later again is better. Practice looking for other objects you know are there, to give your eyes time to adjust to the dark.

Hope these posts are of help!

Seanie.

Practice looking for other objects you know are there, to give your eyes time to adjust to the dark.

Or look for iridium flares (see heavens above for details), theres four in an hour tonight for my location.

Ceers,
~Al

Hi all,
I am fairly new to Astronomy. I have been observing for about one year now and my search skills are improving slowly.. However, I cannot locate comet Neat. I have been out for the last 3 clear nights with two seperate sky maps ( starry night backyard and and a map taken from this months 'Astronomy and Space ) with no luck. I have succesfully located all nearby constellations and Stars and have attempted approaching from different starting points.............I am using 10x50 canon binoculars and a red LED lamp for reading. However,my observing site suffers a little bit from light pollution.Has anyone that has seen this comet have any suggestions or similar experience locating it.
Regards
Anthony

hi anthony and welcome,
the way that i found this comet in the first place using starry night pro version 3 was to right click on the comet and use the info window to find its altitude and it's azimuth. at the time it was due west and about 30 degrees up. you might find it easier to do this rather than to read star maps particularly if you have light pollution. most of the fainter stars will be blocked out anyway. you could always adjust your planetarium to the limiting magnitude and print that off also. when you have roughly the right altitude and azimuth just slowly scan back and forth and you will find it. it is also an advantage to mount your binociulars. if you haven't got a tripod you could always use something for one such as a wall or else a broom turned upside down and cover it with a bag and rest your arms on that, not very pretty but it should do the trick. it really just takes practice and patience. i have seen it several times from dublin and it is quite faint as all you can see is the nucleus it looks a bit like a large but faint globular cluster. it also helps if you have seen several of them before as you have an idea what to expect.
stephen.