The comet itself didn't put up much of a fight at all. From the log:Observation from Kirby Storter Roadside Park in Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida. 1025 UTC - C/2007 N3 (Lulin). Wow! Very bright. Very easy at 90x in the XT8. Nicely formed coma like an unresolved globular, centrally concentrated with an even linear dropoff in brightness from center to halo. About 3' across. No tail seen. Using the defocused-star method, I estimate magnitude at around 8. About 5 degrees above horizon. Considering this is well within the Miami light cone and at a very low elevation, this should be at least a suburban object with any kind of scope. Also observed at 120x and 170x. Visible with effort and averted vision in the 10x50 Resolux's. This soon switched to direct vision as the comet rose away from the Miami light cone (1050 UTC).
Watch this space for more about this comet as it makes its trek across the sky, I think we are in for a fun ride with this one. Thanks SLOOH, Tavi Greiner, and Rob Keown for letting me know about this!
Links:
SLOOH Skylog
BAUT forum post
Heavens Above finder charts
2 comments:
Excellent report! Sounds like this one has potential. Some estimates predict naked- eye visibility during it's visibility.
Sounds like you had a lot of fun with this observation. A great read. Looking forward to more of the same!
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