Re: Comet Machholz from Nebraska
From: David Knisely (ka0czc_at_navix.net)
Date: 01/11/05
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Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 01:51:28 -0600
abc wrote:
> 3.8 or so? Would that include 4.1, or so? How do you distinguish
> 3.8 from say 4.0?
The comparison stars were Delta Arietis (mag. 4.35) and 42 Arietis (mag.
3.61). The comet was noticably brighter than Delta but was slightly fainter
than 42, so it was closer to 42's brightness than to Delta's. With suitable
comparison stars, I can generally get the magnitude of a third star to within
0.2 magnitudes of its actual value, although with the comet, the uncertainty
is probably somewhat greater. According to the reports on the Comet
Observation Home Page, the comet's magnitude was as bright as 3.9 only a few
weeks ago (perhelion will be January 24th).
> I have Nikon and Zeiss and Marala binocs. Would those work as well as Celestron?
They probably would if they had the same power and aperture. The Celestron
Enduro's I purchased have been a fairly pleasent surprise, as they are
reasonably sharp across the field with decent contrast overall.
>>the comet was very nicely shown as a moderate-sized nearly circular fuzzy ball
>>> of light brighter towards the middle with a little asymmetry in the brightness
>>> profile (Degree of Condensation: 3).
>
>
> How about 3.2?
>
No, *Three* (no decimal) The Degree of Condensation is an integer describing
the brightness profile of the coma, ranging from 0 (completely diffuse) to 9
(nearly stellar).
>>By moving the binoculars around a bit,
>
>
> How much is _a bit_?
>
Enough so that it *moved* (and enough to have scanned around and seen all the
tail that was visible). Moving a telescope or binocular set around slightly
is a common technique for making details near the limit of vision become more
easily seen. As I noted, these are *very* faint tails which are quite hard to
see due to their faintness.
>> In my 100mm f/6 refractor at 20x (4.1 degree field of view),
>
>
> Celestron too?
>
No, an Orion SkyView Pro 100 (Celestron does not make a 100mm f/6 refractor,
although they do sell a 102mm f/5 in their "Firstscope" series).
-- David W. Knisely KA0CZC@navix.net Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/ ********************************************** * Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY * * July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir * * http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org * **********************************************
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