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(meteorobs) Serendipity with comets-a cautionary tale

Title: Serendipity with comets-a cautionary tale
Hi all - again
I cant resist mentioning EVEN i have my own personal accidental finding of a comet story, it was in 1997 , the comet was officially discovered by Justin Tilbrook of Clare, South Australia and became C/1997 O1 Tilbrook.

A then original member of our group and good friend of mine, David Patterson ( now deceased ) had been out for an early evening solo viewing session in his light polluted inner-suburban backyard in Magill, Adelaide. Looking at the Sombrero galaxy and other galaxies in that area, around Corvus, with his f6.6 8 inch newtonian mounted on a homemade primitive type of equatorial mount,  on a clear winter's night in july of 97, as Corvus was near and around Zenith at the time .

Dave rang me up and excitedly told me about this object he accidentally found, and was saying it wasnt on the detailed sky charts he had ( as this is a kind of sparse area of the night sky, it stood out very clearly) But he was a little bit inebriated when he rang me up that night, so i was a bit sceptical and said i would come around the following day/night and have a look ( and i didnt get my own scope out as i was very busy at the time and unfortunately didnt really believe his story was accurate anyway!! DOH!).

So the following night i did go around to his house, but it was to mainly to visit his brother (who's first name coincidently is also Justin !! who's house it was) as we were in a working band together at the time and we had some work to do.

Dave showed me the object and it looked like a planetary nebula to me, but i did concede it looked  similar to a couple of small comets i had seen previously in telescopes, and when we checked the charts indoors, it indeed was not on the charts.

But when we went back outside to have another look at the object through the scope and get exact coordinates confirmed, the crappy mount refused to balance and stay steady on zenith and we could not locate the comet again (as it had moved closer or on to zenith by then) and gave up, as we thought we were observing a known comet anyway and the comet was moving into a part of the sky with a lot of sky glow.

These were very pre-internet and computer days, for myself and the others ( by about three years at least) and we had no way of checking out the object on the internet easily (i wouldnt have known how to use it anyway at the time!), and we both just concluded that it was such a bright object (around 8,9 mag) that there was no way anybody (the powers that be) could of possibly missed seeing it. And just had to be a well known recently discovered comet !!!! oh the innocence and ignorance ... ;). (we mostly relied on magazines and yearbooks back then for information on astronomy)
Also we weren't members of the local Astro Society, but of course if we were, we could of easily checked with them - second DOH!!!!

Then for some strange reason, which ive forgotten now in the fog of time , i was distracted and busy and forgot about the object and didnt follow it up ( maybe it was clouded up for a few days after the night he showed me the comet - cant remember now - we were even MORE AMATEURISH back then - believe it or not!!), until i read an article in the local Adelaide newspaper about three or four days later, about a Justin Tilbrook of Clare, South Australia finding a comet in that area of the sky - third massive DDDDOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!! - it was nearly fatal at the time, i can still remember my heart stopping, crushed to the size of a peanut , when i read the article.... ( i think the scar tissue is still there on the old ticker) LOL!!

I estimate that Dave either found the comet the night before Justin Tilbrook  or two nights before he did, so that would make when he showed me either the same night as Justin Tilbrook found it or the  night before Justin discovered it. ( memory is dim that far back and we never took down notes back then - except for casual group meteor counts!- and i certainly NEVER anticipated ever having the opportunity to retell the story in writing ) but it was DEFINITELY at least three days before the newspaper article came out ( and i am definitely POSITIVE of working back from the date of discovery from the newspaper article at the time of issue and definitely working out that at the very least, Dave had seen it the night before Justin Tilbrook found it) i kept the article but have now sadly miss-placed it!.

But of course FULL CREDIT and congratulations to Justin Tilbrook for its discovery ( who also accidentally found it as well, while observing variable stars,.. if it had been left to Dave and I, the comet would of possibly never been discovered and studied, and would of carried on its merry way.

i realise it doesnt really matter now anyway ,to anyone, as its ancient history, and of course i have no physical proof of this,.. BUT it still makes a good cautionary tale at the very least - i hope!. And is a strangely disturbing memory for myself and some of the group ( Daves brother Justin also saw the comet when shown through the scope the night i was there, as well as the also the night Dave found it,  and can back up my story ).
And i expect there very many similar stories to this out there, i'm sure of that ( ive read a few before )

Regards
Kearn
Adelaide, Australia

PS Justin Tilbrook went on to discover another comet -  while intentionally looking for comets this time :) and i think he is till looking for comets now. <http://encke.jpl.nasadot gov/discover.html>
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