[AZ-Observing] Re: Comet Pojmanski (C/2006 A1)

  • From: ketelsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2006 12:38:14 -0700 (MST)

Hi All-

I was going to post that folks should get up and see it, but still
recovering from my all-nighter friday.

I wanted to image it, so instead of getting up early for the drive to a
dark sky, decided to stay up.  Clear Sky Clock implied I had to go SE of
Tucson if I wanted clear skies, so went to Empire Ranch near Sonoita. 
Skies were great, but could see the front coming in as I went to the
comet.  Twilight started about 5:30, I first spotted it clear the horizon
at 4:30 in binoculars.  As it rose the tail became more obvious in my 9X63
binocs.  Started imaging (Canon 20Da) at 5:00 and continued until
twilight.  It is a fast moving sucker - when playing back the frames, you
can see significant movement north on each frame.  Anyway, never could
spot it visually with unaided eye and I did try...  IAU predictions say
6.5 and I believe that.  I could see about 2-3 degrees of tail with the
binocs and on my images (with 70mm Pronto), the blue ion tail was still
going strong at the edge of the 2 degree field.  Was going to go out again
last night, but was still recovering my sleep and didn't have the energy.

I'm  comet fan and encourage all to get to a dark sky to spot it.  While
waiting for it to come up, was reminded that 30 years ago to nearly the
day, I was waiting for Comet West to rise from where I was attending
University of Iowa.  It had been discovered a month or two before and as
it appeared post-perihelion in the morning sky it was supposed to be
bright, but we had all been burned by Kohoutek a couple years before. 
Anyway, while waiting, all I could see in the northeast was a darn jet
contrail lit up by a nearby town.  A half hour later I realized it was
indeed the tail-first rising of Comet West, a truly inspiring comet. 
Anyway, that first sighting was 30 years tomorrow, as I recall...

> This morning was supposed to be comet Pojmanski's (C/2006 A1) closet
> approach to earth. I under stood it should have been just slightly
> south-east of Altair at a mag of about 5.5 but, at 5 AM this Morning using
> 10X50 binoculars from the West valley (Glendale) I was "Skunked" (Too much
> Phoenix sky Glow?). Anyone had an observation they can share?
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