All year long, astronomers have been writing about Comet ISON: will it sizzle or will it fizzle? I was chomping at the bit, waiting for the visual magnitude to brighten enough to try viewing this comet through my own telescope (shown on the right). Finally, the [...]]]>

Comet ISON October 6, 2013 by Jane Houston Jones

All year long, astronomers have been writing about Comet ISON: will it sizzle or will it fizzle? I was chomping at the bit, waiting for the visual magnitude to brighten enough to try viewing this comet through my own telescope (shown on the right). Finally, the weekend, a dark sky, comet magnitude and perfect weather all came together Saturday night, October 5th and Sunday morning, October 6th.

First, backtrack 16 years. I fondly recall the great comet of 1997 – Comet C/1995 O1, Comet Hale-Bopp, which ruled the skies for 18 months. When it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997, it was brighter than all stars in the sky except for Sirius. With its 50 degree long tails it spanned the evening sky, and was the talk of the town, the water cooler and even led the commute chatter among the passengers in my van pool. Everybody saw it. I sketched it. Astronomy clubs flourished with eager new stargazers. Telescopes were literally flying off the shelf. Then, two years after it faded from view, in April 1999, I observed Comet Hale-Bopp from Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback, through my 12.5-inch telescope, as it scooted in front of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was over 8 AU/700 million miles away, as far away as Saturn is from Earth. I’ve been remembering the anticipation then the excitement of Hale-Bopp while impatiently waiting for ISON.

Comet ISON’s magnitude is somewhere in the magnitude 10-11? range at the time of my Sunday morning sketch, tho’ all the sources I use show different magnitudes. On October 5, when I observed and made this little sketch these three sources I regularly use show different magnitudes. Magnitude 10.6 here. Magnitude 10.7 here. And magnitude 10 (or even brighter 9.something) here.

So for my observation, I thought it would be more interesting to show the magnitude of many of the the nearby stars I could see in my eyepiece. I used my 12.5-inch f/6.75 reflector and a 19mm Nagler Panoptic eyepiece for a magnification of 96x. Conditions were spectacular, very steady seeing at 5:00 am, and away from the the Zodiacal Light and Milky Way the limiting magnitude had been an impressive 6.5. I was able to see three 14.0 magnitude stars, two very near the comet. I tried higher and lower magnification (over 200x and under 50x) and couldn’t see the comet in any eyepiece over 125x. The sketch shows the comet a bit brighter than it really appeared. It was like an oval puff of barely-there cloud with a brighter condensed area, I assume was the coma. It was much larger than I was expecting. No tail visible. Can’t wait to observe and sketch it again on October 26th despite a big bright moon and November 2nd which should be a perfect moonless viewing night. Until then, I’m looking forward to hearing about more visible reports. Photos are great, but star-stuff hitting your eyes is the best!

Perihelion or bust!

ISON in December 2013

Comet ISON first spotted by amateur astronomer Bruce Gary and has been imaged by many [...]]]> All year long, astronomers have been writing about Comet ISON: will it sizzle or will it fizzle? Both! Here’s my What’s Up video, with December status (written in mid November, but luckily, the comet didn’t completely fizzle)

ISON in December 2013

Comet ISON first spotted by amateur astronomer Bruce Gary and has been imaged by many eagle-eyed observers with good astrophotography equipment since mid August. A selection of images and data are shown here. I’ll update this frequently as more is understood about Comet ISON. Meanwhile, here is a wesbite with current Comet ISON magnitude and location which is constantly updated!

Comet ISON survived its close pass of the sun on November 28. Scientists are unsure what is actually left of the comet. A fragmented nucleus? Nothing but orbiting dust? Stay tuned!

Here’s an excellent Star Chart showing Comet ISON’s path in November, courtesy of Skyhound’s Skytools3 software. (These are the charts I use for my own deep sky observing.) The chart has not been updated for December as of November 30th.

Latest visible comet news here.

December 2013

ISON will be visible both before dawn and after sunset this month, though it is fading as of November 30th! It will appear higher in the sky at dawn than at sunset, providing a better chance to see it. During the second half of December, Comet ISON should fade rapidly as it moves north. It will be closest to Earth in its orbit on December 26.

You may have noticed a very bright ‘star’ in the western sky. That’s Venus! Venus shines at its very brightest, magnitude -4.9 this month. It sets about three hours after sunset at the beginning of the month and one and a half hours after sunset at the end of the month. This is a great month to view the dramatic changes in the apparent diameter and phases of Venus as it races towards its conjunction with the sun. The first observations of the phases of Venus were made by Galileo in 1610!

Mars continues to grow brighter and rises near midnight, and Jupiter rises earlier in the evening, heralding the best viewing season for Jupiter watchers.

The beautiful Geminid meteor shower will only slightly be marred by moonlight on the night of December 13 and 14. The radiant lies near Gemini with brilliant Jupiter above and the constellation Orion below. From a dark sky, but even from the city, the mighty hunter Orion is easily visible in the southeast sky. Take a look at Orion’s shoulder star, red Betelgeuse and its knee star, blue Rigel and the Orion Nebula.southwestern horizon.

The Milky Way and all the visible planets and comets should encourage stargazers to escape the city lights this month. Join me in the California Desert November 30, at MOjave National Preserve. We have no chance to See ISON for another week, but there are other nice comets, planets, stars, and dark sky objects too enjoy from dusk to dawn.

If Comet ISON survives its perihelion pass we should have a spectacular view of the comet’s dust tail in December.

The times to look will be just after dusk, low to the horizon at sunset, and higher at dawn for northern latitudes the first half of the month. On December 1, look for a pretty diagonal lineup of the comet, Mercury and the crescent moon just before sunrise in the southeast. Then for the second half of the month, the comet becomes circumpolar. It will appear near the constellation Draco on December 26th, when it is half an a.u. (0.42 a.u.to be exact) from Earth. Will the comets’ tail span a quarter of the sky? I’ll update this as more info is available.

Jupiter reaches opposition January 4th, 2014, and rises earlier in the evening. Venus bright as it ever gets – a whopping magnitude -4.9. It will be a fabulous view – a particularly good astrophoto and sketching target as it grows in diameter, but shrinks in phase. Mars increases in brightness and rises earlier (after midnight). Mars will be a great target for 2014.

That’s all for this year, I’m Jane Houston Jones

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