Anyone interested in comet chasing in Wicklow tonight?

It's a nice clear evening and the forecast is good, so it might be an opportunity to catch some of the sights of the early Summer skies.

In addition, although C/2009 R1 (McNaught) will be low on the Northern horizon in Andromeda, it is already a sixth magnitude object and should be visible from about 1 am onwards. The moon will rise at 1.45, which will not help, but with the patchy weather this might be the best chance of the weekend to see this promising comet. C/2009 K5 (McNaught) is now about eight magnitude, and should also be observable in Camelopardalis. A site with a clear view of the Northern horizon is essential. I had a look at the Western end of Ballyremon Commons today and it is more easily accessible and has more space and flatter ground than the Eastern side, so it might be worth checking.

If anyone is interested in going out tonight please respond here, or phone me. We could rendezvous at Healy's pottery around 10.45.

Cheers,
Mike Casey

The clouds rolled in around 10pm, but partially cleared after 1am. Transparency was very poor along the Northern horizon, but I got a handful of shots of C/2009 R1 (McNaught) using an 80ED refractor and a Panasonic GH1 camera. A crop from the best of a poor bunch is linked below (1 minute exposure, in-camera noise reduction, no flat).

www.flickr.com/photos/45468979@N04/4671302414/

The comet is bright (the brighter star of the double below and to the right of the comet is magnitude 8.9), but the images did not capture the tail. Here's hoping that it will continue to brighten as predicted, in which case it will be worth another late night later in the month. C/2009 K5 (McNaught) is also easily observable but is considerably fainter.

Mike

Nice image Mike.

I was unable to travel last evening, were there many out with you?

Paul

Very nice Image Mike,

I was enjoying the evening and had depleted some of my beer stocks by the time I saw the message:)

Michael.

Thanks lads.

No one was able to make it, the weather is so mixed that I left it very late before posting here on the forum. It was a frustrating night because I had to wait for more than two and a half hours hoping that there would be a clearance. I stuck it out because the comet will be lost to view by the end of the month and who knows when we will get another cloudless moonless Friday or Saturday night. However, once the skies cleared everything went according to plan and there was no difficulty in locating and imaging the comet.

Hopefully the comet will get much brighter and more impressive, and there will be another chance to observe it over the next couple of weeks.

Mike

You're a brave man Mike, I'm too much of a chicken to stand out in the dark wilderness by myself.:laugh:

Let us know if you plan any other nights.

Paul