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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Hunting Comet McNaught - without success
12 June 2010

I was anxious to spot Comet McNaught this early morning, especially after Chicago Astronomer Bill imaged it yesterday. So off I went to Chicago Astronomer site #2 off of the lake and set up the C11...

Sky conditions were sub-par, with the forecast degrading by dawn. But, I'm here, it's 1:00 am and let's see what happens.

Joining me for this session, is new Chicago Astronomer Patrick, bringing along his 4.5" go-to...

This would be Patrick's first all night observing session and hopefully would be a good one for him...and maybe...catch a comet.


With the Summer Triangle almost directly overhead, I targeted M57...

Patrick was thrilled to observe the Ring Nebula with the C11...and even with cloud haze, the object was still observable...

But the weather was degrading fast from the west, increasing the nasty orange glow from the light pollution...

Patrick got himself a very affordable 50Mw Green Laser...and I was comparing it with my 50Mw green laser while waiting for Comet rise...

After my laser project, mine is more diffused with a wider beam, whereas Patrick's is more pinpoint.


Jupiter came up from the horizon haze and I slewed over to the Jovian neighborhood..

Imaged thru the 60mm finderscope, three satellites were off to the side...

The atmosphere was not going to cooporate this session and the disk was very turbulant, but Uranus is in close proximity to Jupiter...and I managed to grab a shot....

I used a 10mm with a 2x Barlow...and now with superb tracking on the Losmandy mount, Uranus was easier to image than before.

Here, Patrick studies Uranus....

Thicker clouds were now approaching from the west and completely engulfing the top half of the Sears Tower...

It was now approaching 3:30 am....and with comet rise just minutes away...it was not looking good...

And...just by chance...I gazed up and saw the ISS passing overhead...sweet!.... ;D

Checking against the Heavens-above data:

Sure enough...!

I should check on Satellite passes for our sessions more often...

It was now a wait-and-see stance for the comet...maybe we would get lucky and the cloud cover would break in the east for a quick glance at Comet McNaught. So, I grabbed a chair at 3:30 am and with 15x70 Binos scanned the area as the sky brightened from the approaching Sun...

I checked my chart against the area of comet rise and ate some delicious crackers that Patrick offered me...

Next time, I think some wine & cheese will be part of the session.

Every once in awhile, a sucker hole would give us false hope, but the clouds were just too obtrusive and getting thicker...

At 4:30 am, we started to pack up our equipment, failed in spotting Comet McNaught, but had a great pleasant time chatting and peeking through our scopes. And remarkable, no dew this session....nice.

But look at this pic...

It's just after 4:30 am, but looks like it high noon. Is it just me, or is it getting abnormally lighter - earlier...?

Two astronomers....no waiting.

[patrickm]

Thanks for posting this Joe. I have not much to add other than it was a great three and a half hours out there hanging out and doing our best to see what we could see. I will surely never forget my first time to finally see Jupiter+4 moons, and the big bonus of Uranus in both scopes. Catching the Ring Nebula in yours was also spectacular and if clouds hadn't moved in, it is likely I would have staged a protest to keep you from moving your scope away from it! A great night I will never forget.


As the weather looks to be horrible the next two nights, I will see you when I return from our trip and hopefully we can coax Bill out of bed and Paulie out of IN next time.

Best,
Patrick

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Patrick,

Now, how cool it was to have you join me in this session.

Although the goal of spotting the comet was not reached...it didn't matter, as it's always fun to spend time under the cloude - (even if they were behind some clouds.)

On a much clearer sky soon, we will spend more leisurely time enjoying DSO's and imaging.

Ain't astronomy fun?

[Paulie pchris00]

Coaxing Paulie out of Indiana isn't too hard to do, although my work schedule doesn't accomodate it as often as I'd like. I was working while you guys were out comet hunting.