13P  / Olbers

Monday  7-1-2024 

I went to Broemmelsiek tonight with two purposes.  One, to see Mercury (seen in 10x50's at 8:58PM, seen naked-eye by 9:09 PM).  It reaches peak altitude at our latitude July 12, so it should be observable most of July.

Secondly, and more importantly to me, to observe comet 13P / Olbers.  I knew it would be in Lynx, just below the front "toes" of Ursa Major, and kept checking as skies slowly darkened.  While waiting I took in views of M13, M4, and M27 in the large binos.  Finally, it darkened enough that I could detect it in my 25x100s (hand-held) at 9:59 PM CDT.   I could not yet quite detect it in my 10x50s as the sky was not dark enough yet.  I finished a quick sketch at 10:08 just before clouds slowly rolled in from the Northwest.  The comet showed a "tear-drop" shape tonight, with coma and tail nearly indistinguishable.  Very slight condensation, expect mag. ~6.   Should be easily visible in 10x50s if skies are transparent. 

Friday 8/9/2024  (FNOH)  9:47PM CDT

I purchased a Seestar SS50 recently, and one of the benefits is imaging comets!  It obviously does a better job of capturing 'tail' and frankly is a huge improvement over my sketching skills.   This image was accomplished while I was showing the public views through my 10" dob at a Friday Night Open House at #BroemmelsiekPark.

One of the negatives is that I was better at estimating magnitude with a visual observation.  Hopefully I can learn a way to do that via imaging.  Reportedly it is now at 7th magnitude.  Frankly, it would have been difficult to get an eyeball view of even a small fuzzball (coma) through the light pollution, haze, and very wildfire-smoked sky at Broemmelsiek Park last evening. 

I'm pretty happy with the Seestar and excited to be able to capture some brighter comets in this way.