Re: (meteorobs) Jan 21/22 obs. meteors and [no] Tempel-Tuttle

To: meteorobs@latrade.com
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Jan 21/22 obs. meteors and [no] Tempel-Tuttle
From: KevTK <KevTK@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 11:55:31 EST
Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com)
Reply-To: meteorobs@latrade.com
Sender: owner-meteorobs

In a message dated 98-01-22 08:31:43 EST, you write:

<< Before the meteor observations (and a second attempt after), I tried to 
 get a look at the Leonid comet Temple-Tuttle. That proved a 
 dissappointment... I tried to locate it for an hour using my 4.5" 
 Newtonian (36x, over 1 degree of field), my 20x80 binoculars and 7x50 
 binoculars. It was not difficult to find the location where it should be, 
 but there really was nothing there that looked like a comet... So either 
 it is much fainter than expected, or otherwise very diffuse. After 
 quiting the attempt, I had no difficulty in sweeping up messier 1 (crab 
 nebula) with my 20x80, and I also located a number of obscure clusters in 
 the area. Well, I'll keep trying if coming evenings allow.
  >>


I too attempted to look for T-T with the same results. I was looking thru a
Celestron 6" Newtonian (f/4.5). I too thought that the comet was a lot dimmer
than expected. In my light polluted area I was still seeing stars to the mag.
mid-10's. 
However when I looked up the most recent orbital elements - they were
different than the historical elements inplace in my planetarium program
(Project Pluto's Guide 4.0) and the difference put it more than a degree from
its predicted position. My feeling now is that the elements may need to be
refined some more and it may be out there in a slightly different position.
Will try again soon if it ever stops raining.

Kevin