Re: Comet Pojmanski (C2006 A1)

I think of comets like I think of deep sky objects. For starters, the magnitude
estimates are fraught with uncertainties. Is the 6.53 an estimate of the
brightness of the nucleus alone? Is it an estimate of the total brightness of
the object? If the latter, then what is the brightness per unit are outside the
nucleus? What is the brightness of the nucleus? The coma? The tail? What
kind of tail is it (gas or dust)? How long? How much does its brightness taper
off the farther it gets from the nucleus/coma? And so on.

So teat it like M101 or any other object with a high magnitude estimate but
probably a lot fainter than that. And don't expect to see much beyond the
nucleus and perhaps the coma. And increase your chances by going to a dark
site, or at least take the usual precautions from suburbia; avoid light shining
directly on you and your equipment like the Bird Flu, and position yourself and
your equipment so you're not looking at the object through the glow of a light
that itself is shielded from your direct sight (the usual precautions).

Since this comet is newly discovered, access recent ephemeredes from The Usual
Suspects (I like to link to the ephemeredes list from the comet observer's
website at http://www.cometobservation.com/). I also use Starry Night Pro, but
while I would not rely too much on the accuracy of the ephemeredes it uses until
more observations are in, they're usually good enough to get you in the vicinity
with a low power eyepiece. Also remember this comet is now close by, relatively
speaking, so its position is shifting , perhaps not as fast as the moon, but if
you're not interpolating the coordinates correctly, you might be looking in the
wrong space.

Good Luck !

Clear and Steady Nights,
--- Dave Nakamoto
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinprick holes in a colorless sky
Let inspired figures of light pass by
The Mighty Light of ten thousand suns
Challenges infinity, and is soon gone

david.nakamoto@xxxxxxxxxxx


"Pippen" <not@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Be-dnRMWIc_udpzZnZ2dnUVZ_s-dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm trying to find Comet Pojmanski (C2006 A1)... My Starry Night Enthusiast
(SN) show the best time to view is around 5:40 AM in Denver (actually just
west of Denver). SN shows this comet as a 6.53 Mag. Is this something I should
expect to see with an ETX 125 or am I expecting too much? I was hoping the
tail would make it easy to find...

Thanks,

-p



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