Comet Lulin
 

Anyone tried to observe Comet Lulin yet?

I headed out a little after 9:00 last night with my 10X Orion astronomical binocs and picked it out so quickly, I went back in to check the sky char to make sure I wasn't seeing a nebula.

Sho nuf, right there next to Saturn and below Leo, Comet Lulin. It was still in the loom of College Station (50 miles away) so I couldn't make out much of a tail but it was sort of lopsided. Got up again at 3:30 am and picked it out right away...not discernible to my naked eye but easily seen with binocs. Not much of a tail visible. :(

Yes. I posted on that in another thread. We got up at 04:30. My backyard is heavily light polluted and we had poor transparency but I picked it out with binoc's and then used our Orion 4.5 inch reflector for a better look. It was just a circular green smudge with a slight suggestion of more mass on one side with averted vision which I took to be the tail. And a tiny starlike point at the nucleus. It was nice to see though not spectacular. Saturn was a more interesting object at high power in the scope. The rings being almost exactly edge on.

- Peter.

I haven't tried yet. I am here at the observatory until about 9pm tonight (I work mostly during the day). It will just be rising then, so I doubt I will be able to see it. Perhaps when the time change takes place I will have a better shot at it.

Did you see any color?

Very faint hint of a green smudge. But my sky as I said is crap. I have no less than 13 streetlights visible from my house. I can block all buy one from the are of my yard I was observing from last night. Nothing I can do about that last one I'm afraid. What do you do at the observatory?

- Peter.

It is on the grounds of a middle school. My career has been an astronomy/earth science teacher. The district I teach in is the largest in the state. I guess I do pretty much everything for it. Here is a link to the observatory's website- http://www.anoka.k12.mn.us/education/dept/dept.php?sectionid=27407

The main part of my job is to get teachers out here and use the observatory. I write lessons to incorporate it into their curriculum. We use it during the day and can see bright stars, the sun (filtered :cool:), the moon, and the planets. But once a month it is open to the public and I run viewings. It is also used occasionally for other things, but it is only in it's 3rd year.

Unfortunately it is in the middle of the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis, so light pollution gets it as well. But many more people use it than if it were located outside of the cities, so I guess it is a trade-off. I love it. :D

Outstanding! Keep up the good work!!!!!!

No luck on the comet last night. I stayed until 8:30, but it clouded over right before it was rising. I wonder if it is almost too big for the telescope anyways. Doubt I will be able to get any good pics of it if I do catch it.

I did manage to get a pretty cool picture of Venus. When ever we look at Venus, most of the students say "This is the moon!". You can see why they say that. ;)

The entire comet may be too big for the visual field but it would be interesting to see what you can get any way.

I tracked Lulin last night from about 9:30 til 1:00 AM. I spotted it in my Orion binoculars, and then set up my Meade 4" refractor. I let my kids stay up late so they could see it. Just a fuzzy little smudge. I think most people would be unimpressed by the view through an amatuer telescope. You've got to consider what the image actually is to appreciate it, IMHO.

Now Saturn, that's another story. Even with the rings nearly edge-on, it's still quite a sight. I've seen many friends nearly gasp when they see it for the first time! Personally, I prefer hunting down star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae (at least the easy-to-find ones), but comets are definitely a special treat. I'll continue to observe Lulin until it's gone.

I agree.

That's so true. Though for me Jupiter is tops. Especially when the moons do their transit thing.

- Peter.