[AZ-Observing] Comet Bradfield's 12-Degree Tail (With Pictures)
- From: Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, evac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004 10:33:28
Several of us were up this morning looking at the two comets from a site a
few miles from Arizona City. I was most interested in seeing the anti-tail
of Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR). But Comet C/2004 F4 (Bradfield) stole the show.
In attendance were Joe Goss, Randy Peterson, Martin Bonadio, Jennifer
Keller, and Joe Bergeron. Their scopes: new C14, 10" LX-200, 16"
Newtonian, 10" Newtonian, and 92mm A-P Stowaway refractor. I brought my
70mm Pronto refractor.
First, Comet LINEAR. I had my best view through Martin's 16". It showed a
diffuse tail about one degree in length. I think I saw the angled
anti-tail by knowing where to look, but it was extremely faint through all
that horizon crud.
Comet Bradfield was a magnificent site through the Pronto. With a 27mm
Panoptic eyepiece, I get 18x and 4 degrees. The tail extended well out of
that field of view. I panned another field, and it filled that one, too.
It seemed to go on further, but claiming a tail over 8 degrees long seemed
a bit much.
I brought the Digital Rebel, and used 50mm and 20mm lenses. I set the ISO
to 400 or 800, and typically exposed for 20 seconds. Focusing the 50mm is
not as trivial as I would like, so those shots suffered, which is a shame.
The 20mm did well. Five images, rushed to press, are posted here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/28269060
Now that I know what I did wrong with these photographs, I will deprive
myself of more sleep tomorrow, and do it again.
Tom
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