Trouble Finding Lulin

[franz_sanchez]

I know its suppose to be just beyond Leo and coming up on Cancer in a couple of days. It should be beyond the backwards question mark of Leo the Lion and heading towards cancer. What magnitude is it currently? I have tried to find it but haven't yet. Where is it exactly and what do you have to have to view it.

[mahesh]

Hi franz....
One of our distinguished BAUTzen Galactic 2000 has kindly posted data about Comet Lulin, here...posted Feb 26, okay?

....How to see it and A Simple way to capture Comet Lulin!

Important Note:
You don't need a telescope to see Comet Lulin, it is barely visible to the eye, but looks great thru Binoculars or any even small department store type telescope.

But you do need to know where to look, it is moving Rapidly and is now approaching Regulus in Leo, here is a link to the sky chart or map at Spaceweather.com....


It's in the astrophotography folder. Check it out. :D click on the arrow by the name.

Happy hunting. And Welcome to BAUT

[djellison]

Here's my take
Important Note - you DO need something to look through to find it - in anything other than astonishing astronomers-wet-dream dark skies - the naked eye will not do it.

With my 15 x 70's - it was nothing more than a very feint fuzzy triangle. Comet Holmes was a much better target. Lulin may be a lovely astrophotography target, but for the casual observer, it's nothing to write home about.

Doug

[JustAFriend]

Also had trouble finding it with 10x50 binocs. Not an impressive 'gotta show this off to the neighbors' thing like previous comets.

You're not just going to see it in the sky unless you know exactly where to find it.

Thats why Sky and Telescope magazine keeps charts up:

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Comet_Lulin_Mar1.pdf

[HypothesisTesting]

Also had trouble finding it with 10x50 binocs. Not an impressive 'gotta show this off to the neighbors' thing like previous comets.

You're not just going to see it in the sky unless you know exactly where to find it.

Thats why Sky and Telescope magazine keeps charts up:

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Comet_Lulin_Mar1.pdf


I also used Sky and Telescope chart to find it. I saw it Feb. 27 and it was 5th magnitude then near Regulus. It was from a suburb, it was just a wispy blob in 7X50 binocs. and no green color was visible. I also saw Holmes in those same binoc. and Holmes was much bigger and brighter.

This one was a dud except for the great video done by the Australian astronomer on BAUT.

[mahesh]

....except for the great video done by the Australian astronomer on BAUT.

you mean bloodhound31 / Baz of asignobservatory !?! and another lively one...iceman and many many many others from that part of our world.....

G'day!

[Count Zero]

The next two nights it will be passing near the Beehive Cluster in Cancer. It has faded to magnitude 8+, and the waxing Moon is getting brighter and closer to it. Seeing it will be a challenge.

[HypothesisTesting]

you mean bloodhound31 / Baz of asignobservatory !?! and another lively one...iceman and many many many others from that part of our world.....

G'day!

Yes, Baz was the best I saw. That guy was born to do astrophotography

G'day

[franz_sanchez]

I also used Sky and Telescope chart to find it. I saw it Feb. 27 and it was 5th magnitude then near Regulus. It was from a suburb, it was just a wispy blob in 7X50 binocs. and no green color was visible. I also saw Holmes in those same binoc. and Holmes was much bigger and brighter.

This one was a dud except for the great video done by the Australian astronomer on BAUT.

Yeah but Holmes was the brightest object in the Sky. You could see it with the naked eye. Lulin got up to a 5 magnitude in which you could barely see it with the naked eye and really you had at least have binoculars or a telescope to really see it.

I didn't think Lulin was an 8 magnitude. I thought early march it should be still around a 6 magnitude. Just a couple of days ago I found where Regulus was. Didn't see the comet but its been cloudy off and on.

[mahesh]

Yes, Baz was the best I saw. That guy was born to do astrophotography

G'day

And there are many many others, distinguished astrophotographers here, at BAUT, who I feel are doing that, because it is in their veins...

When I think of it...I could make a glorious list, and still come up short...

[HypothesisTesting]

Yeah but Holmes was the brightest object in the Sky. You could see it with the naked eye. Lulin got up to a 5 magnitude in which you could barely see it with the naked eye and really you had at least have binoculars or a telescope to really see it.

I didn't think Lulin was an 8 magnitude. I thought early march it should be still around a 6 magnitude. Just a couple of days ago I found where Regulus was. Didn't see the comet but its been cloudy off and on.


Agreed.

This one was a dud in comparison with Hale, and Holmes

[Count Zero]

I didn't think Lulin was an 8 magnitude. I thought early march it should be still around a 6 magnitude. Just a couple of days ago I found where Regulus was. Didn't see the comet but its been cloudy off and on.

My reference was an ephemeris generated at the JPL Small-Body Database Browser (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top). Mind you, they list the magnitude on Feb27 as 7.85, so it looks like they may calculate it differently. For you experts, they do list their calculation formula on the ephemeris. I'd be curious to know.

It looks like this comet's going to be a wash for me. We've had high cirrus for days, and the Moon is lighting it up big time.