Anyone looking for Comet Lulin Wed @ 10:50pm ?

Stargate

Think i have it in my scope here in Cork subs , its bright , looks like a small planet ( not twinkling ) , no detail tho ( i mean tail ) just a bright dot between Saturn and Regulas in Leo

Venus was excellent in the scope earlier , like a 3/4 moon , beautiful , and saturn right now is good too , with rings edge on , its small in my scope but can easily make out sphere and the rings on edge ,

damn city lights lol

anyone esle seeing it???

Hope i have the right object ;-)
Man , its cold outside and a little hazy too

Good luck

Martin

Thargor

Way too hazy in Galway, been like that since Xmas, the sky looks clear right now but there are literally 5 stars visible with the haze up there, had a nice view of M42 earlier but it went bad before Saturn came up, didnt even bother trying to look for the comet, very bad start to my observing this year.

Manuel

Pretty clear sky here in the Midlands at midnight. I'm looking at Saturn and Regulus but can't make out anything in-between with binoculars. Might get the telescsope down from the attic tomorrow night.

Stargate, great tip about the Stellarium, thanks. Fantastic app. Now that I know exactly where to look I can play around with the scope. And now that I know that's Saturn, I'll have a proper look at her too. I find it hard to believe that I'd be able to see its rings, but it's worth a try .... Venus should look fairly spectacular at that magnitude too.

Great fun.

Stargate

Hiya Thargor ,

Weather was poor enough here in Cork also , but it was clear for a while ,say from 9:30 till 11pm .

Thargor , do i see your scope for sale ?

Might be clear tomorrow nite , do we ever get to see anything in ireland due to the cloud ,lol ,

Nite
Martin

Thargor

Yeah Im going to upgrade, also considering switching to Alt-Az mounts, Im sick of equatorial tbh, I don't do any astrophotography and the few precious moments of good astronomy you can do in this country are being spoiled for me by pissing around setting it up, then my target always seems to be just out of field a bit and if I had an alt-az I could just nudge it in but with the EQ everything has to be reset and I have to spend 5 minutes scanning again, I want to point and shoot, might go for a refractor this time too.

Stargate

Howya doing Manuel ,

Nice to see ya here , yes , totally agree re Stellarium , A TRULY fantastic little progy Manuel ,

Believe me , my scope is a cheap one , but im able to see the disk and the side-on rings of Saturn no bother , Venus was great this evening , my son was looking at it and taught it was way cool LOL , could easily see the cresent image in the scope , and bright too .


12:50am , just looked outside , totally clouded over ,

Time for the cot , work in the mornng ,

Manuel , dig out the scope and have a look at Venus tomorrow , Saturn later , and then try for Comet Lulin , i found it ( i think ) but sky was hazy , its like a tiny planet disk ,really tiny ,looks white(ish ) green , dosent twinkle , but it was the only thing in that area of the sky that wasnt a star lol ,

I called the wife , asked her was colour was the little dot in the viewer , she said , " white(ish ) green " , so that`ll do me haha

Nite and take care

Martin

rhonin

It was too cloudy here yet again. :mad:
What type of telescope to you have stargate?

Stargate

Hiya Rhonin , how are you doing?

The scope im using is a cheap one , here are some of the reviews it got on Cloudy Nights .com


" Cloudy Nights - Telescope reviews "


Quote I lodge with a friend who has a bit of an interest in astronomy and some months ago (before I came to live here) he bought a small refractor in a supermarket (a European chain called Lidl which sell cheap food and other items) for £79.99 (approx $154).

I had an opportunity to give this little scope a go last night, and quite frankly, while I was expecting it to be very bad, it was actually very, very good. The tripod it came with is extremely sturdy and solid, the equatorial mount is metal construction and good quality and the optics are good, too.

I looked at the Moon, and with the supplied low power eyepiece I had sharp clear views with almost no colour abberation and no fringing. Stars appear as little points of light and the thing is sharp to the edges.

The finder is a bit small and the slow motion controls are a bit temperamental with some backlash in them, but nothing that can't be altered. I'd also change the eyepieces (except the low power one which is actually good) and Barlow lens (plastic) for better quality ones.

We all tell people not to buy cheap supermarket (or elsewhere) telescopes as they are frequently rubbish - which they all too often are. But this thing is the exception - it's great. I have actually seen someone on another forum claim that he had performed a side by side test with the Skylux and a Meade ETX 70 and that the Skylux came out on top. After using it (and using an ETX several times in the past) I can believe that - apart from anything else the Skylux is easier to focus. Unquote




Quote Skylux is the only "supermarket scope" that I can recommend. I've tested it on many objects such as globular & open clusters, some double stars, Moon and Saturn. With the telescope there were 2 EPs - Kellners (20 and 4 mm) and this 'erecting eypiece'. I bought a Vixen Plossl 32 mm and soon I'm going to buy another Plossl (9 or 10 mm). From the included eyepieces only 20 is quite good. 4 mm has almost no eye relief However, looking at Moon with 175x is great! The erecting eyepiece is something rather not useful, I removed it from my box for eypieces and put there PL32 instead It is a good lunar and planetary scope, but under dark sky it can show DSOs quite well, I managed to see M74 with averted vision, but not 'averted imagination', it definitely was there. The equatorial mount is Astro-3 - something like the old EQ3. I've found a website with some information:

http://www.teleskop-service.de/Antares/Montierung/montierung.htm#Astro3 Unquote



So Rhonin , i bought the scope in Lidl a few years back for something like 60 quid , i KNOW you get what you pay for , but in this instance as said in the reviews about its a fantasic little yoke ;-)

Sturdy and easy to use

Take Care

StArGaTe

An Fear Aniar

I love Stellarium too. Point to the middle star in Orion's belt and off you go. Fantastic.

Is Lulin still heading in towards the sun or is it past perihelion on its way out again?

.

Stargate

Hiya An Fear Aniar

How are you?

Hope this helps !


Comet Lulin

A few facts ...............Comet Lulin, a strange, backward-traveling, greenish-hued ball of ice and gas, will make its closest approach to
Earth on the evening of Monday, Feb. 24.

It'll still be 38 million miles away, but should be visible with the naked eye in dark locations, and with binoculars or a telescope in more lit-up locations.


This week will probably be humanity's only chance to see Lulin, which was discovered in 2007 by Chinese and Taiwanese astronomers. The comet appears to be on its way out of the solar system for good. ( imagine that ) our 1 and only time to see it wow


Comet Lulin comes closer to earth tonight than it will be during its entire visit but it will be visible over the next few days, coinciding with the effect of the New Moon. News reports say that the comet's atmosphere is shedding 800 gallons of water every second, "enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in less than 15 minutes." This water connection is very interesting considering the fact that the Comet arrives at the time of the New Moon in the watery sign of Pisces and at a time when there are no other planets in water except for Uranus which is a very dry planet. The strong Aquarian influence right now is also very dry, and this green Comet with all of its water symbology is an interesting visitor at this time.



February 25:: The comet today went through opposition, nearly 180° from the Sun in our sky. So we were looking almost exactly down the length of the blue gas tail. After opposition the gas tail will appear to reverse sides with respect to the comet's head and should more or less align with the antitail.


An Fear Aniar
see ya
Stargate

Stargate

Comet Lulin More info..........

This week the comet is speeding across the sky at some 5° per day. That's about 1 arcsecond every 5 seconds of time, enough to show obvious motion during a short telescopic observing session. Similarly, that's 1 arcminute per 5 minutes of time if you're using binoculars.

As February nears its end, Lulin is moving away from both Earth and the Sun, so it fades fairly quickly. The evening of February 27th will see it at about magnitude 5.5 or 6, passing within 1° of Regulus.

Moonlight starts interfering again around February 28th. But do keep watching!

Because the comet stays nearly on the ecliptic, its tail (which points away from the Sun) aligns with the ecliptic and with the comet's own direction of motion across the sky. This is indicated by the direction the tail is pointed on the comet symbols on the PDF finder charts linked to above.

Moreover, because Earth remains in the comet's own orbital plane, we see the comet with a very thin tail and an antitail, a spike pointing in almost the opposite direction from the main tail. Why? In three dimensions a comet's dust tail is often wide but it's always thin, like a paper cutout, confined to the comet's orbital plane. When we are in or near this plane, we can sometimes see parts of the wide, thin dust tail on opposite sides of the comet's head. We pass through most comets' orbital planes briefly. But this time, the situation will last and last.

Stargate

An Fear Aniar

Thanks Stargate. Very interesting. I don't think I'll have much chance of seeing it from London.


.

Manuel

At last, a clear night!

Got to see Venus in its crescent shape - cool.

That was earlier. Just spent the last 20 minutes looking at Saturn's rings. Truly awesome. I had no idea that was possible armed with just my humble Tasco.

Lookeed around for Lulin, but it's moved so far from Regulus now that I just couldn't locate it.

Saturn though .... coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Thanks! Can't wait to show my 8-year old tomorrow, if it's clear :rolleyes:

Thargor

2 good nights of observing in Galway, fingers crossed for more. I could find Lulin either tonight, Stellarium said it was near Regulus but there was nothing there I could see, everywhere else was great though, really good night, there even seemed to be less LP than usual for some reason.

An Fear Aniar

An Fear Aniar wrote: »

I love Stellarium too. Point to the middle star in Orion's belt and off you go. Fantastic.

.

When you were talking about Stellarium, I thought you were talkinh about Celestia, which is even better because you can leave the earth and view the galaxy from somewhere else e.g. Orion's belt or Canopus... or NGC2903...

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/


.

rhonin

It was indeed a great night. First time I looked at Venus through my telescope and it was class to see the cresent shape. Saturn was great too. I could not locate Lulin but it was great to have a clear sky.

Stargate

At last, a clear night!

Got to see Venus in its crescent shape - cool.

That was earlier. Just spent the last 20 minutes looking at Saturn's rings. Truly awesome. I had no idea that was possible armed with just my humble Tasco.

Lookeed around for Lulin, but it's moved so far from Regulus now that I just couldn't locate it.

Saturn though .... coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Thanks! Can't wait to show my 8-year old tomorrow, if it's clear



@ Manuel

Am so glad you got to see Venus , Saturn , etc Manuel !!!

Yes Saturn is very cool to look at , pity the rings are edge-on to us . Venus was brilliant last night also , as was the Moon .

I looked at all of them last night , but like you there was no sign of Lulin , i searched and searched that area of the sky near
Regulus and found nothing , i wonder if there was anyone here in Ireland able to see it recently , im sure theres plenty of people with
Powerful scopes able to dig it out , even if its invisible to our small scopes ;-) Be Interesting if anyone got fotos etc ,

But well done Manuel and tnx for your report on your viewing , i appreciate it , its very cloudy here in Cork this evening and the
forecast is bad till friday i think , with maybe a few breaks in the cloud Tuesday night , so i HOPE your son gets to see something
tonight or tomorrow night Manuel , but like always here in Ireland , its hit and miss with the weather , when i think of all the fun we miss
because of cloud in this country , bummer ! Anything of interest happening in our skies here and you can be sure it`ll rain ;-)

Regards
Stargate

Stargate

2 good nights of observing in Galway, fingers crossed for more. I could find Lulin either tonight, Stellarium said it was near Regulus but there was nothing there I could see, everywhere else was great though, really good night, there even seemed to be less LP than usual for some reason


@ Thargor

Wonder did you order your Scope , fingers crossed you get a good deal where you decide to buy !
Nope, tried and tried to find Lulin , no joy last nite , settled on a tiny speck of light , which didnt look like a star
but from reports of lulin having a tail etc i discounted it and called it a night after viewing Venus Moon Saturn etc

Stargate

Stargate

It was indeed a great night. First time I looked at Venus through my telescope and it was class to see the cresent shape. Saturn was great too. I could not locate Lulin but it was great to have a clear sky.



@ rhonin

Yes indeed , really good to have a clear night , very cloudy here now in Cork , looks like rain again , pity

Stargate

Stargate

When you were talking about Stellarium, I thought you were talkinh about Celestia, which is even better because you can leave the earth and view the galaxy from somewhere else e.g. Orion's belt or Canopus... or NGC2903...

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/


@ An Fear Aniar

Yip Celestia , another great progy

Stargate

Thargor

Stargate wrote: »

2 good nights of observing in Galway, fingers crossed for more. I could find Lulin either tonight, Stellarium said it was near Regulus but there was nothing there I could see, everywhere else was great though, really good night, there even seemed to be less LP than usual for some reason


@ Thargor

Wonder did you order your Scope , fingers crossed you get a good deal where you decide to buy !
Nope, tried and tried to find Lulin , no joy last nite , settled on a tiny speck of light , which didnt look like a star
but from reports of lulin having a tail etc i discounted it and called it a night after viewing Venus Moon Saturn etc

Stargate

Hi mate, I was about to order a €400 120 mm Orion refractor from http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/ when someone offered me a brand new Celestron Astromaster 90 AZ refractor for €120, which is 70 or 80 less than they go for on Ebay so I sold my Astromaster 130 EQ Reflector (hated the mount, hated wondering about collimation) and bought the 90AZ with that money, Im in the suburbs of Galway atm so theres no real point in spending big money when hopefully Ill be moving out near Gort or Ennis for work in a year or 2 to darker skies, Ill spend the big money then on something for deep space hunting.

Stargate

Thargor

Am delighted for you Thargor , beautiful scope , its raining here ,so dont know if you get the chance to use your
new scope tonight , fingers crossed for ya !

Know what you mean about moving out near Gort or Ennis and darker skies etc .

Wish ya many happy nights with the 90 AZ , did ya give her a name yet ? LOL

Stargate

Thargor

Its coming from Germany and I only got the dispatch notice on Friday so maybe tomorrow but I doubt it, these clear nights are killing me because I know it'll cloud over the minute it arrives, boxed up the 130 and sent it off to England today, it was a good scope especially for the price but I hated wasting precious time wrestling with that equatorial mount when I didn't even need it, I prefer hopping back and forth around the sky seeing whatevers to be seen instead of tracking one object for long periods, at least it taught me all the basics but its Alt-Az or GOTO for me from now on. Someone showed me the 70mm AZ from the same line of scopes a week ago and I was blown away, it was outperforming my 130mm reflector on not only Saturn and Venus but also the Pleiades which I wasnt expecting, I dont think it was a collimation issue either, it just seemed better even with the narrower FOV, cant wait to see what the 90mm is like.

Flukey

I finally got out to look last night with my telescope. I did and did not see it. I could not 100% identify it, but I think I did see it. A sort of a case of looking at it but not knowing it. Unfortunately the next few nights are not going to be clear here, to help me identify it. I did however get a great view of the almost edge on rings of Saturn. I got a few nice views of other things too. So it wasn't a completely frustrating night.

Stargate

Hiya Flukey

Pissin rain here in Cork , glad you got some viewing last nite , me too , looked and couldnt " see "
Lulin , i wish someone with a huge scope would come on and tell us yes or no if they saw it lol
that way at least if it WAS visible we just couldnt see it , or its just not visible at all ;-)

Tnx
Stargate

Stargate

Nice to have a nice big one come our way lol

not TOO close , that be nice ,

Tnx to everyone who posted comments here in the forum while Lulin was here
I enjoyed it

Stargate