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(meteorobs) OT.. Comet Linear under full moon!

Greetings all,

Good mornin'!

Just a brief note as I am waking up to go to work...  Saw Comet LINEAR, 
C/2001 A2 last night, actually about 1.30 this morning, for the first time!

Head of Pisces was still low, and the comet had just cleared the trees out 
front.  Once I found the head of Pisces in my 7x35 binoculars, the comet 
stood out very easily with averted vision.  No estimate on mag... although, 
actually... I should get out my AAVSO atlas with mags on it, and do the out 
of focus star trick, that would work.  Although... if I go out of focus 
much, I may lose comet visibility under the full moon.  My (very rough) 
impression is that it looked about as bright as M31 in binoculars under the 
full moon, and about the same size, but a bit fatter and not as 
elongated.  LINEAR was lower, though, in the sky than M31.

Took some photos from my window ledge, using my high speed tungsten film 
again.  That tends to cut through both light pollution and moonlight pretty 
good.  Did the usual 30 sec up to 60 sec shots, and one 2 min just for the 
heck of it.  Usually with normal lens, the 35 sec shots are the best, with 
the 45 sec shots showing the best tail for comets, using just basic camera, 
55mm lens, and tripod.  That's the common setup I have used for all my 
other comet photographs over the years... makes a nice scale 
comparison.  Films have varied over the years though.  (Have also done 
guided photos of more recent comets, but have kept up the basic camera and 
tripod shots for comparison with my earlier photos.)

Anyway... it must be decent brightness to pick up so easily with small 
binos under full moon!  I have a decent country sky, so that does help, so 
you should (in spite of the moon) still try to get out of the city to see 
the comet, to minimize your light pollution.

LINEAR is well worth a look though - it's actually a very nice little comet!

- Cathy Hall
   south of Ottawa, Canada

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