Comet Lulin spotted

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:49 pm

I barely managed to observe Comet Lulin again today.

From around 11:10 to 11:30pm Singapore time (25 Feb 09), I viewed it through a 14mm eyepiece (XL) with my LX-90 8" SCT.

Again, my impression of it is that it is very faint and I had to strain to see it. I compared through the eyepiece it with two nearby stars which are stated to be mag 8+ in a planetarium program (The Sky), and these two stars were more readily apparent. Those stars are of course pin points and the Comet's brightness is diffused, but nevertheless the two mag 8 stars were definitely easier to spot. Two other mag 9 stars nearby were also barely visible.

So that is an updated report.

As an aside, I vividly recall observing Comet 17/P Holmes in Oct 2007 a few days after its sudden brightening. Viewed it from my room window in Singapore city centre when it was around mag 3. It was then in the North in Perseus and was visible as a naked eye object for several days from my room window. A small round blob which got larger and more diffuse as the days went by.

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:23 pm

Hi,starfinder
You are right.I also tried yesterday night after the rain stopped at 9pm.The sky did clear for a while(approx 45 min-from 10:30-11:15pm-at my place ),but on using a high iso camera to see if its really clear,its indicated that a kind of mist/hase is in the air above and since lulin is a comet with a poor coma,its hard to see which one is really lulin!With haze glow stronger than lulin coma I didnt photo.Anyway the haze turn onto cloud after that.Thats hopeless sky condition for 2 days in a row.

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:36 am

Hi,Everybody.
My Pics ;taken in Singapore of Comet Lulin had been uploaded at
www.chia-astroblog.blogspot.com >>comet Lulin gallery.Thanks
(you must type to get into it)