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Hey, Comet Watchers...
Rocky Raab
Member Posts: 14,439 ✭✭✭✭
I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
Comments
Only kind of comet I've seen.... 🤣
I likely won't see it either, but not because I'm a layabed. I have about 3,000 feet of quartzite and granite out my east windows.
...I was at a friends ranch and saw the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997...just happened to be down at his lake bass fishing before day light... was pretty cool...one comet in a lifetime is enough for me...if I hadn't seen Hale-Bopp, I would get up to see this one...
This will be my fourth, if I get to glimpse it.
i had a 65 comet as a kid 😀
Get up early and drive to just north of Tremonton to get an unobstructed view to the East, and then treat yourself to a good breakfast at JC’s country diner on SE side of Tremonton and it’s close to a on ramp to get back on I-15.
Diner opens @ 06:00
Mule
Damn fine idea, Mule.
Hope you get a good view and an enjoyable breakfast.
My view this morning is obscured by high cloud cover.
Mule
Weather guesser says all next week will be cloudy with rain and snow. Carp. Maybe I'll take the missus to Tremonton on Sunday for the comet, brunch, and then to finally see the famous downtown murals.
”The Grill” at the bowling alley serves pretty good food and has a varied menu, but my hands down choice is JC’s for the best food in Tremonton.
Have fun and enjoy.
Mule
austin20 it is a 65 according to this link where I got the pic from.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS879US879&sxsrf=AOaemvIybFBxVry3v7u09nklPXVCmb29OA:1638634370848&tbm=isch&q=mercury+comet&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiM5tzcxMr0AhUVlGoFHZ1VAh4Q7AkoAXoECA4QCg&biw=1341&bih=740&dpr=1
My grandma used to go with our family tent camping and around the star filled night sky's and the campfire told me stories of seeing the Haley's Comet back in 1910. She said it was so brilliant and mesmerizing to a young 9 year old girl!
In 1986 at the Haley's return, I had the gifted pleasure of having my grandmother over at my house to view the comet once again! She said it must have shrunk a great deal over all the years and I just had to agree with her!! 😁 She passed two years later.
Missed it again due to high cloud cover, fingers crossed for tomorrow morning.
I was optimistic at 00:45 as I checked the sky when dogs needed out and it was clear and crisp out.
Mule
We had dense fog this morning with .30 miles of visibility. Oh well.
Joe
Dense fog here too . Or so said my wife as I would not know .
Half my sky has thin high clouds this morning. If it's moving east, it'll ruin my chances. Headed out anyway because all this week is going to be stormy.
I've got clear skies (for now) but can't find the darn thing.
Cloudy here this morning. Dammit! I love to watch a comet. Try again tomorrow.
Third time wasn’t a charm, could see a few stars, but high thin cloud layer obscured all but the brightest.
Attempt again tomorrow.
Mule
Heavy clouds here this morning. Light rain this afternoon. I've seen 2 before, so it's not a tragedy only a disappointment if I don't see this one.
Joe
Made the drive and scanned the sky for an hour. Saw satellites go by every time I raised the binoculars, and several shooting stars (the Geminid shower is upon us) but never found the comet. I'll try again in 10 days or so when it is supposed to be visible just after sunset. I suspect the satellites I saw were Starlinks, because they trailed one another on the same path a few minutes apart. But there were others, too. It's getting crowded up there, boys and girls.
Mule, kudos for recommending JC's Diner. Had a nice Country Fried Steak breakfast before going to see the wonderful murals in downtown Tremonton. Wife said the Utah scone was really good, too.
It turns out that I DID see the comet, but didn't realize it. There was a little fuzzy ball just up and left of Arcturus, visible through my 8X Zeiss glasses, but I did not notice a tail, so dismissed it. As for the claim that it is a "naked eye" comet, I have to say nope.
Arcturus is the bright orange star in the eastern sky. Follow the handle of the big dipper about three hands width distance and that's Arcturus. Come Leonard will be passing it just to the star's left over the next few days, moving downwards and right towards the horizon. By Dec 18th, it will have moved enough that it will be visible in the western sky after sunset, moving very near Venus.
If your skies are clear, grab your binos and go find it.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/comet-leonard-might-become-2021s-brightest-2022/
I've looked but there are to many trees etc for me to see that low in the sky from the yard. I'll have to drive to elevation if I'm going to see it.
It wasn't all that low today. Arcturus was almost 45 degrees above the horizon. Find that star and look all around it with binos. The comet will look like a fuzzy ball, not at all like the images they're showing in the websites. An hour before sunrise will be best.
Thanks. Guess I need to orient things better and be more systematic in my effort. I have a decent set of 10x binoculars and could pull the spotting scope out.
Thanks Rocky now i know not to bother getting up early. plus your sky is clearer than here in the ''Smoky Mountains.''
Ah well, Haleys Comet was also a bust.
Thanks, Rocky. I guess I did see it this morning but like you dismissed it as I couldn't see a tail.
We're forecast to have heavy storms with rain and snow all this next week, but I'm going to have the binos ready when I get up at 5 tomorrow, just in case.
Raining here off and on this morning. We've gotten .74" so far, with more on the way.
Joe
I finally saw the comet. It was a bit underwhelming but cool to see. It looked like its underbelly was sparkling, not really a tail. The first one I saw was back in 1956 or 57 when I was just a kid. It really looked like the pictures you see of comets. The second one I saw was on vacation in the 70's in Mass. at a campground we were staying at. That one was a typical comet too.
Thanks for the heads up Rockie.
Joe
I might as well just forget even looking for this one. Our winter weather has been solid cloud cover for the past week with no end in sight. Have even had over a foot of snow drop on us these last 2 days and this morning temps are in the low teens with heavy wind.
I have seen 3 comets during my 65 3\4 years on this planet and the best one was without a doubt the Hale Bop. It was big, bright, and had a nice long tail. What surprised me the most about comets in general was the fact that they were visible for several nights in a row, moving very slowly across the sky. Not at all what I expected to see something that flew like a meteor.
Just wispy clouds this morning but combined with what light interference there is I can't make it out this morning. The dipper is plain enough but south of that I'm having trouble. Maybe if I had driven somewhere and got away from what little light there is here and used a spotting scope instead of binoculars. I can't find Arcturus so there must be more clouds in that direction.
This comet is one of the fastest; it's moving at more than 150,000 mph and accelerating. But it's so far away that it appears to be almost stationary to us. It changes location in the sky every night, so it is clearly moving, It just doesn't give the impression of really hauling *. It is also about the size of a large mountain.
It will be visible for another 10 days or so. By that time, it will have shot past Venus and the Sun and will be hurtling up and out of the solar system forever. You can see it then low on the horizon after sunset as it moves past Venus from our viewpoint. There are several YouTube vids about how and where to see it.