[AZ-Observing] Comet Lulin Thurs. evening

After clouds in the early evening Thursday, it cleared nicely by about 
10:30 pm, so I tried for the comet.
 From my front yard here in Fountain Hills, it appeared a bit larger 
than last Monday evening.  Quite easy in 8x40 binoculars, and now close 
to Regulus, having moved from the vicinity of Saturn since the first of 
the week.  I also viewed it in my 5 inch f:5 refractor, and a 6 inch f:5 
reflector.  I could make myself believe I saw a faint tail....  I can 
just see sigma Leonis with averted vision from my front yard, as well as 
the lesser stars in the Little Dipper, signifying a clear night...
M42 in Orion appeared very nice, but no sign of "The Running Man" (M43).
Since my neighbors across the street leave lights on under their eaves 
all night, I decided to drive a ways out of town.
I drove about 15 miles north on the Beeline Highway to the Four Peaks 
Rd. turnoff; leaving the highway, then about 1.5 miles east, past the 
"staging area", to a large clearing on the south side of the well 
maintained, graded dirt road. 
This is a marginally darker site and a bit higher in elevation than my 
home in Fountain Hills -- but one can see the valley lights below 
directly, and the SW quadrant is in the PHX light dome.  There is a 
slight amount of glow on the horizon to the NE, probably from Payson 
(?)  Nice views of the sky all around, with the Four Peaks range on the 
eastern horizon.
The comet showed a nice tail in the 8x40 binoculars, as well as in the 6 
inch f:5 reflector at low power.  It now shows a slight central 
condensation.
The tail points away from Regulus, and extends possibly 2-3 degrees (as 
seen in the binoculars).  I could not see the comet without aid, however.

Gene Lucas
(17250)

 

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