Re: Comet Tempel1 seen in 5" Refractor



Joe Bergeron wrote:
> I took a stab at finding Tempel 1 on the night of July 2 using my 6"
> refractor. I had a good chart and reasonably dark skies. Nevertheless I
> saw nothing after giving it a good long try at several magnifications.
> It's certainly not a mag 10 object.
>
> I was able to see the M51 asupernova without much trouble.
>
> A few weeks ago I saw Tempel 1 in a fair-sized Dob belonging to Jane
> Houston Jones at the Grand Canyon Star Party. There it was easy and
> fairly condensed.
>
> --

For what it may be worth to wouldbe observers of this comet, it
currently has an intergrated/total magnitude of close to 10.0 but is
exceedingly diffuse and quite large in appearance. Throughout June I
could view it with 20x100 binoculars at a total magnitude of 9.8 in a
dark sky, the coma subtending 6'-7' and appearing almost totally
uncondensed. As such, 9P/Tempel is pretty much visible without
difficulty only from truly dark sky sites. Those in urban or even
semi-urban locations will find the comet well below the brightness of
their sky background.

JBortle

.

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