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(ATMoB:Discuss) Naked Eye Comet deep in the South...


Has anyone here in New England had a gander at this ghostly visitor yet?

[PS: "RASCALS" is an email list of Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.]

Lew Gramer


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Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 08:03:54 -0400
To: Mark Davis <meteorobs (a) charleston dawt net>, Lew Gramer <dedalus (a) latrade dot com>,
        Kevin Kilkenny <KevTK (a) aol dot com>, Wayne Hally <meteors (a) eclipse dawt net>
From: "C.L. Hall" <chall (a) cyberus.ca>
Subject: Fwd: [RASCALS] COMET LINEAR (2001 A2)

>Date:         Sat, 30 Jun 2001 08:19:47 -0300
>From: Alan Whitman <...>
>Subject: [RASCALS] COMET LINEAR (2001 A2)
>To: RASCALS (a) ap.stmarys.ca
>
>Hi,
>
>Well 4th magnitude Comet Linear finally rose through the trees on the ridge
>to the south of me at 3:03 AM (about one hour into twilight here at latitude
>49.3 N) and I was waiting for it with my 4.1-inch Astroscan at 16x (cradled
>in my arms in the standing position as the ads show which, surprisingly, is
>reasonably stable even at 16x). Comet Linear looked like an unresolved
>globular cluster with a brighter core, larger than and about a magnitude
>brighter than M22 which I had been looking at 20 minutes earlier while
>waiting for the comet to rise. I did not see any tail an hour into twilight
>with the little richest-field scope, but guys in the American SW were
>reporting a 3/4 degree tail a few nights ago with larger scopes in dark skies.
>
>If you are going to try for this comet, I would suggest doing so either
>Sunday dawn or Monday dawn as bright moonlight will be a problem by Tuesday
>morning when the BRIGHT moon doesn't set here until 3:25 AM. If you can find
>a much flatter SE horizon than I have, you may be able to catch the comet by
>2 AM when the sky is much darker than mine was this Saturday morning. See
>the details from Sky&Tel's Skyline copied below. The comet is bright enough
>that you don't need to plot a precise position to find it. For instance, I
>just noted last evening that if I extended the eastern side of the Great
>Square of Pegasus down 11/2 lengths and somewhat to the left, that would be
>where the comet was this morning. That's all the level of accuracy that
>you'll need to pick it up with binoculars on Sunday morning (best chance) or
>Monday morning (when the moon doesn't set until 2:53 AM here).
>
>[Also note that this evening (Saturday) Mars and the relatively bright
>globular cluster M19 are in the same field of view, with the mag 6.7
>globular M19 1/2 degree north of mag -2.2 Mars. (Credit to Fred Schaaf in
>the July Sky&Tel for pointing this out.)]
>
>Clear skies,
>
>Alan Whitman
>
> >COMET LINEAR NOW VISIBLE WORLDWIDE (quoted from Skyline)
> >
> >After hiding out in the far-southern sky while at its brightest, Comet
> >LINEAR (2001 A2) is now visible before dawn to skywatchers everywhere.
> >According to many observers, LINEAR has been as bright as about magnitude
> >4.2 in the last few days -- and dimly visible to the naked eye as a
> >tailless fuzzball.
> >
> >On Saturday morning, June 30th, Northern Hemisphere observers will find the
> >comet moderately well up in the southeastern sky before the first light of
> >dawn, in the constellation Cetus. Binoculars will help in locating the
> >comet, especially through light pollution. Here are coordinates for Comet
> >LINEAR for 0 hours Universal Time (in 2000.0 coordinates) for the 
> >coming week:
> >
> >R.A. Dec.
> >
> >June 30 0h 52m -6.7 deg.
> >July 2 0 29 -3.1
> >4 0 06 +0.4
> >6 23 44 +3.7
> >
> >In the next 10 days the comet climbs much higher in the early morning sky,
> >crossing Pisces and entering Pegasus. By July 11th it is well up in the east
> >as early as midnight or 1 a.m. local daylight saving time and very high
> >before dawn -- though by this time it may have faded to roughly magnitude
> >5.0. It remains in Pegasus for most of the rest of July as it fades into
> >the distance, possibly losing 1 magnitude every 10 days.


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