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Anybody watching the comet?


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  Neowise.  Northwest portion of the sky in WNY.  Amateur observation tonight w/o telescope.  The tail for the most part obscures the comet itself.  

 

  Visible body with binoculars at 10:35PM.  Even can see with naked eye if you squinted hard enough.  I will dig out the telescope tomorrow.

Edited by RochesterRob
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Saw it last night, had clear skies here in the Adirondacks. Funny thing was if we tried to look right at it, it was difficult to make out, we had to look a little off the side to make out the tail. 

 

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40 minutes ago, Just Jack said:

Saw it last night, had clear skies here in the Adirondacks. Funny thing was if we tried to look right at it, it was difficult to make out, we had to look a little off the side to make out the tail. 

 

 

Peripheral vision is more sensitive to dim light than direct vision.

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/put-your-peripheral-vision-to-the-test/

Quote

The differences between central and peripheral vision start at the backs of our eyes where we have two types of light-sensitive cells, called cones and rods. Our central vision uses an area densely packed with cones. Cones are sensitive to color and need ample light to function well. Our peripheral vision uses mostly rods and almost no cones. Rods are sensitive to movement and quickly pick up changes in brightness. They function well in a broad range of light conditions.

 

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day 4 and more clouds on the horizon.   

the comet should appear beneath the Big Dipper on the right hand side and be seen higher over the horizon.  It will get higher and higher over the next week at whicj time is will be seen under the left side on the Big Dipper.

 

However in star gazing I did see Jupiter and Saturn in the eastern sky.  The 2 can appear to be one planet with a tail, but that was just a light illusion.  

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Last night was a particularly good night for planet observation.

Even with the dew point in the low 70's here in Central Virginia, the vis was great.

I had the Celestron Skymaster glasses on.

I don't have low Southwest horizon access because of trees and mountains, so the comet is not a possibility.

For those who enjoy sky watching, I highly recommend downloading "Stellarium," available free at:

http://stellarium.org

 

It is a free, open source great asset that shows the full night sky, slew-able to all directions from your exact location. It knows the time, so shows the exact sky with names of all the starts, constellations and planets if you select them.

I always check it before going out, as it orients me very quickly to what is out.

If you have a programmable telescope, it will provide the data you can load into it for whatever you want to see.

Coincidentally, tonight is the exact night Saturn will be in opposition, (earth between sun and Saturn), which is the closest it will be for the year. The exact time of opposition is 2200Z, which is 6pm eastern this evening. I'll have my scope on it tonight.

Good gazing to all.

 

 

 

Edited by sherpa
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The wife an I found it friday night, we went to some state land where it's dark, same last night with our 13 yo who actually found it interesting.

 

When we got home around 10:40 it was bright enough to see from the lot across the street.

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On 7/19/2020 at 3:52 PM, Just Jack said:

Saw it last night, had clear skies here in the Adirondacks. Funny thing was if we tried to look right at it, it was difficult to make out, we had to look a little off the side to make out the tail. 

 

Are you near Lake George?  It's pretty easy to see there.

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