[AZ-Observing] Comet Linear & NEAT from RTMC/ASTRO Expo
- From: "Rotramel, Rick (AZ77)" <rick.rotramel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 10:45:09 -0700
After it got dark last Friday evening near Big Bear, CA at the conference I
grabbed the 11x80's for a peek at comet Linear T7. I walked down the
entrance road to get a clear view to the southwest. After a short search to
the SW I located it straight down from Regulus in Leo to about a point maybe
30 degrees up. The coma was about 15', and I saw no tail in the binos.
Then I looked for comet NEAT and was surprised to see a nice bright comet in
the binos. The coma has shrunk a little down to about 10', and a tail of
about 1 degree.
Then I walked over to the nearby telescope field by the lake and found an
observer with an Orion 5" refractor not doing anything and asked it's owner
if he had seen the comets yet. He had not and I aimed it at Linear T7. We
had a short window as it was about to set over a large tree. It appeared
with a big round coma slightly brighter in the middle with no tail or even a
teardrop hint of a tail.
Next we viewed comet NEAT which looked very nice. Nice bright coma with
bright middle and a tail which fanned from the coma at 7:00 o'clock to about
1:00-2:30 in the eyepiece. Averted vision revealed structure in the tail. Am
very impressed with this comet!
Pretty good for having a one day past 1st Qtr. Moon in the sky!
EDITORIAL:
RTMC made some changes this year, the Merit Awards were announced on Sat.
eve, instead of Sun. eve. There were no "Honorable Mention" awards. Glen
Malcolm took over as Awards Chairman which was in years past held by Randy
Wilcox. They announced a vote for an "Astronomers Choice" award for the best
scope entry. The vote was taken on Sun. and announced the winner on Sun.
eve. before the door prize drawings.
This resulted in many leaving Sat. eve and not too many staying thru Monday.
Many vendors closed shop by early Sunday afternoon. Also, attendance at the
afternoon talks were sparse.
Even the "program guide" for the conference was in a new format. Kind of
like a TV listing in the newspapers for the talks and events. It also
contained a new bio section on all the people giving talks, which I liked.
It was different and some people objected a little bit.
On Sunday eve, before they announced the winner, Big Poo-bah (SP?) Steve
Edberg asked if they liked the changes made with the Merit Awards. Well,
there was several boo-birds in the audience and not much clapping.
Many will be happy and many will be disappointed. This was about my 22nd
attendance of the conference. I am ok with the changes, but know that they
are trying to improve the conference and are taking some risks.
We'll see how it pans out next year. It will be a Last Quarter Moon Memorial
Day weekend, 2005.
Rick R.
SAC
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