Finally some clear skies to observe this comet last night right next to 116 Tauri. I would have to say it is fainter than some of the quoted magnitudes, which suggest around 7.5, but I made it closer to 9. It was not visible in 20x80 binos but I picked it up as the stereotypical tail-less light-fuzz in the 8-inch (I must say a word here for the Celestron engineers: the GoTo still placing objects perfectly in the eyepiece after nearly 8 years and hundreds of observations). The Comet was at its closest point to Earth on Nov 14th and is still just 36 million miles away, so must be intrinsically minor. It's orbit is just 140 years so may be reclassified as a periodical at its next apparition... Either way, a case of very much after the Lord Mayor's show compared to NEOWISE, but brings my comet tally up to 36 nevertheless.
Clear skies,
Finbarr.
Last edit: 3 years 11 months ago by Fermidox.
The following user(s) said Thank You: michael_murphy, lunartic_old, flt158, scfahy, Until_then-Goodnight!
I'm a bit surprised how difficult it is to get some basic facts and figures about comet history... for example, the number of comets discovered by the ATLAS survey. This page tells us it is 53 -
what's more, all seem to have been updated quite recently...
I made an attempt for C/2020 S3 Erasmus this morning, but just too much light in the eastern sky. Current mag estimates are in the 8-10 range but it's going to be an increasingly difficult catch from our latitudes.
Clear skies,
Finbarr.
The following user(s) said Thank You: flt158, Until_then-Goodnight!
