Tag Archives: comets

Go Observe C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE ) it may your last chance

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Naked eye On July 20th I was well set up to go observe C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). My eight-inch dob was ready with a 32mm eyepiece. My LX90 was set up with a set of binoviewers. I was hoping to see more detail around the false nucleus and draw it. My set of filters were also at the ready as some of them claimed to enhance detail in comets. Alas, the seeing was terrible, a muted view under magnification. However the naked eye view was still very good, and the comet was dangling over Clare Island some seven kilometres away from me. Even post-midnight orange and pink tones were hugging the rugged edge of the island. The comet looked more vertical than I expected. It mimicked an exclamation mark with the head of the comet playing the dot. Perhaps an exclamation of the last time I might see it. Because my view has been only clouds, and fog since. July 19th … Continue reading →

Go Observe C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

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Comets are the ultimate solar system travellers. I love finding them, to follow and also to draw. They are exciting because they move and morph. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is one such visitor. Seasonally we have the changing constellations. As predictable as a ticking clock. On view constantly  are circumpolar constellations. Planets take their turn in the sky to show themselves off.  Our moon is always gorgeous and as steady as a rock can be, one of our night sky beautys. However comets are so unpredictable, that is part of their allure. They may or may not make it round the sun. Perhaps they might crash into Jupiter. One  might even expand to be the largest object in the solar system. Or they might have internal gas explosions causing them to spin. Some have huge tails and some lose their tails. The very best kind reveal themselves to everyone on the planet by becoming visible to the unaided eye. C/2020 F3 … Continue reading →

Go Observe Comets

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I really love drawing comets, it is sometimes challenging to find them but always a thrill when you do. So, in essence, I occasionally spend time trying to find chunks of ice, dust and gas travelling through space. Some might consider that a bit mad, however, it can be very satisfying. Back in October 2007, I started to observe Comet C17 P/ Holmes. My drawings of that comet go from when it was a very small dot until it became the largest object in the solar system. Here is a previous article about that comet. It is the changes these objects go through that really absorbs my interest. Their shape changes as they outgas, develop tails or their comas become thin enough to allow stars behind them to shine through. Enjoyment also comes from following their journeys across the night sky. Sometimes another object in the viewing vicinity becomes a target for sketching. Like a beautiful overlooked jewel. Recently three … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook: July 21, 1911 – Joel Metcalf

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This entry is part 24 of 54 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from July 21, 1911, when Joel Metcalf made a visit. Next to his name, Rev. Joel Hastings Metcalf (1866-1925) wrote “Winchester, Mass.”  He was a Unitarian minister and an avid amateur astronomer who specialized in hunting asteroids and comets. Between 1905 and 1914, he discovered 41 asteroids and several comets. He was a member of the visiting committees of the Harvard Observatory and the Ladd Observatory (Brown U.) The asteroids 726 Joëlla and 792 Metcalfia (both among the 41 he discovered) are named for him, and several of the comets he discovered also bear his name.      

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New Orbit Visualizations for the JPL Small-Body Database Browser

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I frequently refer to the JPL Small-Body Database Browser for information on asteroids and comets. The website has brand new visualization software that beautifully displays the orbits of asteroids and comets, and allows you to zoom and rotate-around easily using the mouse – the same way as in NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System. So what’s the first thing I did when I found out about this? I searched for my wife’s asteroid: 117852 Constance: You can set the date from 1600-2199, select which major solar system bodies you’d like to see, take screen-shots, and view a time-lapse of the body orbiting the Sun. About the only thing the new tool does not have (and I wish it did) is the ability to capture a short animated-GIF when you play-forward a time-lapse. “The primary developer, Kevin Gill, deserves the major credit for this new tool.” – Dr. Alan B. Chamberlin/JPL Kevin: Good Job! I had to stop myself from playing with the new tool several times as … Continue reading →

Comet Lessons – C 17 P / Holmes

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My interest in comets started back in 1986 when Comet 1P/ Halley was visible from my back garden in a small unstable telescope. I showed it to several people and ten years later did the same with comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake in the same small 50 mm telescope on a shaky wooden tripod. April 1997 brought the wonderful Hale Bopp to Irish skies, that was, a truly magnificent naked eye sight. All this time my interest in comets was building but in hindsight for reasons beyond my comprehension I did not record them in sketches only in my memory. Most likely it was bringing up my children that distracted me. Comet Machholz C/2004 Q2 This comet really got me going on comets. I followed it and sketched its path through the sky from December 22nd 2004 until I could no longer see it after the  2nd March 2005. I began observing this grey blob in space with 10X50 Zeiss binoculars … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Ice dreams

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This entry is part 138 of 191 in the series Across the Universe

This is a slightly edited version of a column that first ran in The Tablet in August 2014 ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on August 6, 2014. Launched more than ten years earlier, upon arrival it took up an orbit around the sun that parallels the comet’s path, to keep the comet in its cameras from a distance of only a few tens of kilometers. The next two months saw intense preparation for the final stage of the mission: in mid November, 2014, a lander was sent to the comet’s dark surface with instruments to measure its composition in close up detail. (The original plan was for it to drill about 20 cm into the comet itself, to pierce the dusty crust and reach the icy material beneath. Alas, it landed into a shadowed region and was not able to get enough power to do its job or communicate with the orbiter… its fate is described here, on … Continue reading →

Get off the Sofa – Stellarium a beginners guide to the software with videos and instruction

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Virginia creepers are turning red, evening light drops noticeably, a chilled breeze tosses  leafs around the garden . Thoughts of winter constellations and log fires warm my heart as we lean towards autumn.  Magnificent Orion is slowly making a return  with its extremely detailed nebula, a sketching target of mine.  Once several years ago I saw it in a very dark sky , the detail was outstanding even in my 8 inch dob. I observed what looked like cracks  in the molecular cloud, it was so totally mesmerizing  however my view was  soon eliminated by fog creeping up and over me .  A drawing  to look forward to attempting  as M42 is truly special. We look from our gardens at a place where stars are born . Observing M42 we also look back in time about 1,500 light years.  The future and the past combined , a wonderful sight, a complex drawing. My hopes are for a comet in outburst … Continue reading →

Across the Universe: Changelings

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This entry is part 82 of 191 in the series Across the Universe

This column first ran in The Tablet in July 2010 In 1803, a team of French scientists investigated a fall of meteorites near the town of L’Aigle, and concluded that they were indeed samples from outside of Earth. It was a revolution comparable to Copernicus’: the Earth we live on does not exist isolated from all the other planets. Well, at least, not isolated from the asteroids, whose chips may come to us in the form of meteorites or, more often, as harmless showers of meteors. Surely the real planets, orbiting in simple, stable paths far from Earth, don’t touch us. But about sixty years ago, we finally realized that some bits of outer space bigger than dust or rocks manage to hit us, exploding on impact with the energy of nuclear bombs, leaving giant craters. Thirty years ago, we came to admit that one that hit 65 million years ago was big enough to wipe out the dinosaurs. (About that … Continue reading →