Well, I went out tonight with the 7x35 and the 10x50 and my 14 year old son joined me as he stated "I want to see my first comet." We too had looked at Starry Nigh for position and it was rather easy to see. My son had to go first so he started at Saturn and went up to Chi Leonis and then over to 59 Leonis. Right above 59 Leonis there she was. My son got excited and was pretty happy even though it wasn't a whole lot to look at. He then gave me the 7x35 and he took a look in the 10x50. After looking at the Lulin in both in the 7x35 with averted vision I was able to make it out as a fuzzy. It kinda of reminded me of Hubble's Variable Nebula. More detail in the 10x50. Would love to set up one of the scopes but just can't with work in the a.m., a head cold to contend with and just being tired. Was it terrific? No. Was it worth having my son take a look and get excited. Yep. My son and I also spent about 30 minutes look at some of the Messier objects in Orion, Canis Major, and Puppis. My son also contrasted Rigel with Betelgeuse, since he enjoys contrasting stars. Then we went in. A quick and fun evening with binoculars shared with my son was worth it. I need to do a few more of those quick sessions with him with the binoculars, sometimes they are the best. No back to bed and take some meds to help this cold along. Clear skies to all. On 2009-02-25 02:46, Jim Gibson wrote:

I have mixed feelings about Lulin. The positive ones are that I enjoy being able to find it. It is a fast mover though. When I first started watching it, it was near Scorpio and now it is way the heck over in Leo and moving. So I like that challenge.

The other side of the coin is that it hasn’t lived up to my expectations from what I have read as far as appearance and brightness that was expected, or as I may have read into the information that was available. From an urban backyard I could never find it with the unaided eye and even in binos it turned out to be fairly faint.

I have a neighbor who is a high school science teacher and I was waiting for Lulin to get spectacular so I could invite him and his students over for a look at it, but the spectacular part never happened. So, as far as asking someone to come over at 5:30 am to show them what was under spectacular in a 100mm APO I couldn’t get the courage to do so.

So for me, I enjoyed it for the challenge, I enjoyed seeing something that wasn’t a gray fuzzy but had some interesting color to it. It isn’t something I would get someone out of bed for.

Patrick or someone mentioned that there are usually 1 or 2 good ones a year. Lulin probably wan't one of them but it was fun for me to practice on.

Jim

--- On Tue, 2/24/09, daniel turner <outwest112@???> wrote:

From: daniel turner <outwest112@???> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Lulin -- obs report To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@???> Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 5:04 PM

Howard:

One of the best kept secrets about Utah is that a half tank of gas will get you a pretty darn good dark site and back. A full tank will get you to a spectacular site. But you have to be willing to leave behind your LazyBoy reccliner and the TV remote.

Another secret is about comets. While we only rarely have one bright enough to see without optical aid, we quite often have them bright enough for binoculars, and if you're willing to drag out an eight inch telescope, there are a half dozen within reach almost always. Currently we have 2 binocular comets and 4 more visible in an 8 inch SC. Monitor the comet observer's discussion group on Yahoo and you will always be up to date about current targets.

DT

--- On Tue, 2/24/09, Howard Jackman <sumoetx@???> wrote:

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From: Howard Jackman <sumoetx@???> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Lulin -- obs report To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@???> Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 11:41 AM That's so interesting Chuck because I did the same last night around 1:30am from my backyard in West Jordan with the 15x70 binos and I found the view very fascinating (doesn't take much to impress me, can you tell I don't get out much?) Your description of it was spot on although it seemed much larger than M-13 to me. I enjoyed being able to view it in the same FOV as Saturn, and it was bright enough to remain visible even as clouds raced by in front of it. It seemed to me to be more diffuse and elongated than I had expected especially from left to right. I haven't looked at many pictures of it in the last few weeks so I was expecting a tighter fuzz ball. I wanted to grab some wide field photos but the wind was too much for my little tripod.

Howard

--- On Tue, 2/24/09, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@???> wrote:

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From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@???> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Lulin -- obs report To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@???> Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 9:03 AM I caught it in a 15x70mm bino last night from mid-valley, between the clouds. What a huge letdown. It looked like M-13 on a bad night.

I heard J. Kelly Beatty on NPR yesterday afternoon talking about it. This is one of those astro events that should NOT be publicized too loudly.

If you live in the sticks, your view is probably much better, but since 90% of the population lives where the light pollution is, most people are going to be underwhelmed- IF they even manage to spot this non-event. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@???

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