FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Deep Impact - from Sentinel, AZ

["Rotramel, Rick (AZ77)" <rick.rotramel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sentinel, in July? Yes, for a very dark SW sky to view the Impact!

As I drove up to the site I was expecting to see a couple of observers...not
a soul there...(except maybe Pierre's).

Set up the 10" f5.8 (with P. Schwaar mirror) on the Big Foot, then enjoyed
Mercury & Venus setting in the West. 

After dark set in, checked out the SN in M51. Pretty cool. I imagined the
thought of Brian Marsden when he received the report of a SN in M51..."Yeah
right, wait, that's a different spot than the usual false reports!"

I drew a pre-impact drawing of Comet Tempel 1. First the stars, then the
comet, which was not much except for a roundish faint glow.

At 10:52 PM I saw no change. A while later I saw a tiny flash or flicker in
the coma. Kind of like during a "lunar graze occultation" when the star
comes in from behind a crater on the edge of the moon. At the time I thought
it was a "seeing" thing, where a faint star was at, that I hadn't noticed
when I made the drawing.

I observed the comet until 12:35 AM, when it got lost in the muck near the
horizon.
As AJ said in his post, the comet moved along several diameters in the field
of view. I then noticed that the tiny new star had moved along with the
comet.

I saw no noticeable change in the comet coma like Frank said in his post.

The seeing was 7/10 and the transparency 8/10, with a blazing Milky Way and
an obvious naked eye view of the Pipe nebula.

I viewed the Vail Nebula overhead at the zenith, it appeared well without
any filters. Then, before taking down the scope I noticed orange lights on
the Eastern horizon. A peek through the 11x80's showed flames & smoke. I
found out later that there was a brush fire burning 5 miles SW of Gila Bend.

Congratulations to all the folks involved with Deep Impact!

Rick R. 
SAC
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