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(meteorobs) 3 days of Bopp!



Hi guys -

Well, finally got some skies!   We need at least one clear weekend up here - for
every month you California guys get ;)  

I was down in Kingston, Ontario Friday night, and saw the comet from there,
albeit from the suburbs.  First time since February 9th!!  Tiny little tail from
the suburbs, but took some photos.  Detail on the jet really nice even through
my Bushnell 60mm spotting scope.

Cloudy Saturday morning, with <more> snow.  Arrived back up in Ottawa about 6.00
pm, stopped by my brother's place to show the comet to my  niece and nephew.
My 9 year old nephew wasn't too excited - his thing is hockey.  My 5 year old
niece, however, loved it!   She was absolutely thrilled.  I set up my spotting
scope on my camera tripod, at <just> her height.  Her gleeful "I see it, I see
it!!" made it all worthwhile!  I've previously taught her the Big Dipper and
Cassiopeia, and she thought it was great that the comet was just down from the
'W' .  This is the first comet I've been able to show her, as Hyakutake was past
her bedtime... I told her that she can look at the comet every night now just
after supper, so she's going to get 'Daddy' to take her outside...  (my
brother's gonna git me for this one ;)

It stayed clear last night, so this morning (Sunday) I set my alarm clock for
3.00 am, and headed out with a friend west of Ottawa about 20 km., for a site on
the Ottawa River.  (My observing friend Karen was too tired to head out, but her
boyfriend decided to tag along with me!)   Not as dark a site as further out,
but more convenient.  I will make the longer jaunts later in the month....  It
was rather nippy outside, about -20C (about -4F), so I didn't set up my main
refractor, just the 60mm spotting scope, with 20x wide angle eyepiece.  I'm
hoping for a warmer night later this month to run piggyback.  The cold is hard
on my drive system ...   Naked eye tails were, for me, about 6 degrees and 3
degrees in length, although my friend could see about 9 degrees and 6 degrees.
I estimated the comet's mag as just a hair fainter than Vega.   Even in the
spotting scope, the structure was impressive.  I couldn't see any colour, other
than perhaps a creamy white.  A friend of mine on Friday morning said she could
see blue, yellow and red in binoculars from a dark sky.  I could see just
<white> from my 'just beyond the fringe' site this morning.

My friend and I cranked a lot of photos.  He ran everything from P1600 to
Polaroid time exposures with 3200 black & white film.  Now, those were rather
neat ...   We were able to show the photos to the people in the do-nut shop on
the way home!!  With camera and tripod, I cranked Ektachrome P1600 as well, and
did some more experimentation with my Ektachrome 320T Tungsten.  I had cranked
regular tungsten, 160, for Hyakutake last year, and found that I got about twice
the tail length as with the P1600 :))  So, my current experiment is with Kodak's
new <high-speed> tungsten.... 

When I get a warmer night for piggyback, my aim is to shoot Kodak "Elite II"
<100> film.  Us Canadians have found that, for guided piggyback shots of at
least 15 minutes, it gives just about identical results as the P1600, with no
need to push it!  

Anyway, it was <nice> to get out even for a handful of hours.  It was a pretty
night - Mars was bright, Jupiter was rising in the morning twilight, and the
Ottawa River below the comet  was frozen over solid and snow-covered.  We
<almost> didn't even notice the -20C temperatures... ouch, touched that metal
camera part again ;)

Forecast is for hopefully clear again tonight... 

- Cathy
  Tired but happy in the Great White North ;)