Comet Lovejoy now a nekkid-eye object - NOW ALSO WITH SUrPRIsE MYSTERY GUEST

[rodekyll]

According to the sites I visit Lovejoy is at it's brightest this week.  Easy to spot with binoculars and once you know what you're looking for it can be spotted by eye.  It can help to look with the side of your eye rather than dead at it.  Faint objects like this are most easily seen with your peripheral vision.  I don't know why.

We're supposed to get three inches of rain over the next two days.  So have a peek for me.    :winer

[steven c]

 Something about your eye being blind or less sensitive  dead center under low light.

[rboe]

In Phoenix, had to use my binoculars to nail it. At 9:00 it was straight up but she is drifting to the west. If the weather holds we do a public outreach star party in Wickenburg Saturday night; nice dark skies, I can test this naked eye thing and put some bigger glass on it.

Right now it's just a bright pale green fuzz ball. Could not see a tail.

[Nic in Western NYS]

Something about your eye being blind or less sensitive  dead center under low light.

I learned that has to do with the color sensitive but low-light insensitive 'cones' being in the center of the retina and the low-light sensitive but color-blind 'rods' being more on the periphery of the retina, so to see something faint, use averted vision and don't expect to see it in color.

[Nic in Western NYS]

RK,

Skies actually clearing this weekend in Houston area.  Is it worth a shot to try and see the comet? 

Thanks for your write up.  A life long dream has been to see a comet, yet fulfilled. 

Fuzzy green blob, no tail.  Don't get hopes up for something visually spectacular!  It's still wicked cool (as the locals here say).

[zedXmick]

Well, Lovejoy is still up there, but this is running into money for me now, dang it RK.

I decided on Friday I would try to see Uranus and Neptune -- both would be firsts for me -- but could only see Uranus with my Fujinon 7x50 binoculars, so I wandered on to Amazon and bought some 15x70 binoculars incredibly cheaply (Celestron Skymasters, $61). I received them today and tonight find they are amazingly better than what I had. Tonight I've seen Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter (and at least two of its moons, Callisto and Ganymede), and figure I'll get up early to see Saturn and so complete the Grand Tour of all the planets. I also observed the Great Nebula in Orion and the Lovejoy comet again.

I'm now contemplating buying the Sky Window binocular viewing device that Nic brought to our attention. Where will this all end?

Don't know. Having fun though. I recommend those binoculars to any who are interested in this stuff. They are only 9 ounces heavier than my 7x50's, at 3lbs, 1 oz, and I was able to hand-hold them with fairly good results. Two day delivery with Amazon Prime....

Moto

I just ordered the 15X70 Skymasters from Amazon....can't wait for them to get here. Thanks for the info.

[rodekyll]

To avoid any confusion as to WHICH comet you're observing, here's the skinny on another one, Finlay, that just went bright over the weekend:

http://phys.org/news/2015-01-comet-finlay-outburst-visible-binoculars.html


How many times have you had the luxury of choosing your comet for the night?

[Chuck in Indiana]

Something about your eye being blind or less sensitive  dead center under low light.

It has to do with rods and cones. Pilots are taught to always keep your eyes moving at night. You'll see the faint lights first out of the corner of your eyes..

[rboe]

Dark sky's, could not see it naked eye; but with the 140mm and 70mm scopes it came in rather nicely. No tail. One fellow claimed he could see it naked eye once he knew where to look.

[LowRyter]

I saw a cloudy fuzzball just the the right of the lower Orion star.......... but I checked on the internet and it should be to the right of the upper star. 

 :(

duh

[LowRyter]

It has to do with rods and cones. Pilots are taught to always keep your eyes moving at night. You'll see the faint lights first out of the corner of your eyes..

good point, faint light is caught by the corners of your eyes, when you look head on, it "disappears". 

[rodekyll]

Still raining here.   **C

[rboe]

I saw a cloudy fuzzball just the the right of the lower Orion star.......... but I checked on the internet and it should be to the right of the upper star. 

That was probably M42, the Orion Nebula, looks nice in smaller scopes, looks nicer as you go up in scope size.

[Nic in Western NYS]

I saw a cloudy fuzzball just the the right of the lower Orion star.......... but I checked on the internet and it should be to the right of the upper star. 

 :(

duh

If it was in between the 'bottom two' bright Orion stars and up a good bit, might have been the Orion Nebula you saw.

[Bill N]

good point, faint light is caught by the corners of your eyes, when you look head on, it "disappears". 

Tis true. The best example that shows this disappearing act is the "Blinking" nebulae in Cygnus. It's a small planetary nebula with a central star. Stare right at it and the nebula disappears. Avert your vision and the nebula comes back.
Bill 

[LowRyter]

That was probably M42, the Orion Nebula, looks nice in smaller scopes, looks nicer as you go up in scope size.

thanks !

[Nic in Western NYS]

Naked eye sighting last night.  In small binoculars compared with Andromeda Galaxy M31 - Lovejoy was about .5 mag brighter than M31 so my seat of pants mag guess is about +3 for Lovejoy.  But so diffuse as to be difficult naked eye object in my backyard, much harder than M31.