[AZ-Observing] Re: Glimpse of Lulin
- From: <jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:23:30 +0000
Wayne, Steve & Wayne, thanks for the great reports from last night. The cirrus
lid blew off and patchy low clouds broke up around midnight so I was able to
check it out from the front porch. I wish I could have hit Sunset Crater again,
but I'm beat.
The soft streak of Lulin paired with brilliant Saturn blazing away in the same
binocular field was spectacular. Although I had more light pollution to put up
with, the dust tail was still in excellent condition, about 2 degrees long in
PA 110 degrees. The ion tail appeared as a subtle brightening along the
northwest side of the comet. Strangely, I kept seeing a bit of a brightening on
the south-southwest side of the coma too. I'm not sure what I was seeing there,
but hopefully as the latest photographs start filtering in, I'll see if I was
hallucinating. The coma continued to show a very faint aqua color. It was nice
to see that color along with Saturn's warm ivory hue, and some blue (sigma
LEO), orange and yellow stars sprinkled around. To the naked eye, it was
visible as a subtle puff west of Saturn. According to my CSC,
Opposition-Wednesday is shaping up to be a startlingly clear night up here this
week. So I'm looking forward to the view then!
Coma Dia: 30 arc min.
Dust Tail: 2 degree length @ PA 110 deg.
Ion Tail: 30 arc min. length @ PA 300 deg.
Degree of Condensation: 7 (telescopic estimate at 120X & 240X)
The sketch & other details can be found here:
http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/001305.html
Looking forward to the SAC meeting on March 6th!
Jeremy
> -------Original Message-------
> From: Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy) <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Glimpse of Lulin
> Sent: Feb 24 '09 17:43
>
> 15480 Empire Rd.
> Benson, AZ 85602
> hm ph: 520-586-2244
> We were wrestling with the clouds down in SE AZ, too, but there were big
> enough breaks that I pulled out my 20x100 binos and had a nice view of the
> comet. I detected a nearly 2 degree long tail, no hint of an anti-tail. The
> temperature was very comfortable, though not quite shirtsleeve weather. We
> had persistent high, thin clouds that made my western sky look like a
> fluorescent light bulb hanging over Tucson.
>
> Clear skies,
> Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)
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