Observing Report 3/5/2006 12:15 UTC from Little Mtn., Utah approx. 41 deg N, 111.8 West. NELM-ZLM - 5.3-5.5 - suburban transition zone Scanning with 10x50 5.5 deg TFOV binos it was easy to pass over Comet 2006/A1 Pojmanski as a quasi-stellar object. In this light polluted location, the tail of the comet seen in Pete Lawerence's and a recent APOD photo is not visible - Peter Lawerence's C. Pojmanski photo 3/5/2006 5:05 UTC http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/comets/pojmanski.html Robin Leadbeater 3/4/2006 5:15 UTC http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/astro2/spectra_25.htm APOD 3/3/2006 by Tunc Tezel http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060303.html - however, the nucleus and coma are visible, and reveal more detail on applying more magnification. Comet Pojmanski was found between HIP101690, a v7.5, G9III star in Aql, and a small flag-shaped asterism about 1 deg away, the brightest star in which is HIP101339, v6.5. Because of its quasi-stellar appearance at low-magnification, having a good ephemeris location and chart plot in hand is recommended. C2006/A1 is now on its outbound track, having crossed the ecliptic back around Feb. 26: JPL 3-D generator: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?sstr=2006a1 In a small refractor at the lowest useable magnification, 22x, Comet C2006/A1 could be mistaken for a globular cluster. Applying higher magnification - 35x - the nucleus and faint coma are resolved. The nucleus and coma have a DC=6 dispersion. "DC6 = the central zone very prominent. Steep brightness profile; most of the light is in the central condensation." The coma was as a thin 2 arcminute layer around the brighter 4-5 arcmin nucleus. The faint beginnings of the tail are seen in the form of the coma being distorted away from the Sun's position below the horizon. (I have to wonder what more internal structure of the nucleus would be shown by a high quality, observatory grade photo of the comet.) Due to the lack of time caused by the advancing astronomical twlight and the bright light of Venus, a reliable magnitude estimate could not be made. The comet is still definitely brighter than the HIP101339, v6.5, using the Modified Out-Out Method, but is not a naked-eye object in an NELM 5.3-5.5 sky. Two rough measurements of coma size using the drift were taken, one at 35x (~30 secs) and a second at 47x (~20 secs). This implies a size range of 4.7-7.0 arcmins and is consistent with Robin Leadbeater's 3/4 photo. Northern hemisphere observers apparently have not been contributing to the Harvard Minor Planet Center. Comparitive measurements by other observers end on 2/26 with southern hemisphere observers. http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/icq/CometMags.html On the morning (12 UTC) of March 6, Comet Pojmanski passes about 2 degrees southeast of glob cluster NGC6934, v8.9, dia. 5.9'. This continues to be a nice early morning comet - assuming the weather will cooperate. The comet is higher in the sky, as compared to 2/26, and starts rising around 4:15am local time for 41N U.S. observers. The best views probably can be had around 4:45am to 5:15am - after Comet Pojmanski has risen out of the extinction zone, but before the end of astronomical twilight becomes a factor. Again, delaying arrival to your dark sky op to beyond 5:00am local time risks missing the comet, since astronomical twilight arrives around 5:30am local time. - Canopus56 (Kurt) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com