ASTEROIDS AND COMETS 1. ASTEROID; "Vesta", 1992, found in "LEO". 2. COMET; "Swift-Tuttle", (1863#3), 9/19/92, found in "URSA MAJOR", very close to M101. Tracked the comet until January 1993. 3. COMET; "McNaught-Russell 1994", 4/7/94, in "AURIGA", 6.5 mag., easy to see, was large and bright. The comet was visible for only one night, could not locate again. 4. COMET; (de Vico), P/1995 S1, 10/22/95, in "LEO", located in the tail, was very bright, found with 10 X 50 binocs.. It was 5:30 A.M. and a little foggy. I was still able to see the comet with ease. Reminded me of a globular through binocs.. 5. COMET; Hyakutake, 2/26/96, IN "LIBRA", around 7th mag. on this date. Very bright and easy to see both in binocs and with a telescope. The neucleus is easy to see with the telescope and has a star-like image. This comet is numbered C/1996 B2. It just gets brighter and bigger each night. I have seen the comet as early as 12:30 A.M.. And, this morning at 1:17A.M., a tail can be seen with binocs.. Hyakutake now must be at least 3rd mag.. 6. Third entry to "Hyakutake", 3/22/96, the comet was visible tonight at 9:15 P.M., the earliest yet. The comet has a very bright neucleus now that can easily be seen in binocs.. In a telescope the comet is truely spectacular. A very bright neucleus and a huge halo of gases. Moving at over 300,000 MPH, the comet is heading for the handle of the "BIG DIPPER". The orbit has been estimated around 10 to 20,000 years. Sure hope they can narrow that down a little. 7. Last and final entry to this truely spectacular comet. I have seen one of the truely moving events of astronomy. I followed this comet from early moring hours in the southeast to its' lowest point on the horozion in the west just after dark. The dates are from 2/26/95, at 3:30 A.M. to 4/17/96, at 7:10 P.M.. Comet Hyakutake, C/1996 B2 reached perihelion on May 1st and was only 0.23 a.u. from the Sun. On April 17th I saw Hyskutake, C/1996 B2 for the last time. Farewell my friend and good travels. NOTE: My daughter Devon saw this comet through my telescope and also with her naked eye. She was 3 and 1/2 years old. She may not and probably wont remember this comet, but I want this entry to verify the fact that she did.. She has seen something few her age will be able to say they saw. Makes her unique. It wont be back for 12 to 16 thousand years. Hale-Bopp is her next. 8. COMET; Hale-Bopp, C/1995 01, 5/24/96, found in "SAGITTARIUS" at 12:50 A.M. the morning of the 26th. It was easy to see and had a star-like neucleus with a nice gas glow. This is my first look of what should be very many since Hale-Bopp will be around until 1997. Here are the co-ordinates: 19h 33m, -15 degrees 09.5'. The magnitude was 7.5. 9. COMET; 22P/Kopff, 5/24/96, found in "SAGITTARIUS" at 01:50 A.M. the morning of the 26th. Comet was much fainter even though it is listed the same in magnitude as Hale-Bopp of 7.5. Neucleus wasn't visible and the comet appeared to be spread out rather than compact. I don't think that I will be seeing this comet again. This was a very clear night and I don't think I would have seen it if it wasn't so clear. Here are the co-ordinates. 19h 01.4m, -15 degrees 47.5'. 10. COMET; Hale-Bopp, c/1995 01, 5/15/96, still in "SAGITTARIUS". The comet was easy to see tonight even thought it was a little muck in the sky. Found at 12:55 A.M. the morning of the 16th. My second view of this comet which was still bright regardless of a so-so sky. Showed a real wide tail and the neculeus was stellar. I don't think that this comet is going to be a let down. It may even be better than Hyakutake was. Let's see what happens. This comet will be around for a long time. 11. COMET; Hale-Bopp, c/1995 01, 07/05/96, This is the very first view from my house in Willingboro. Bill Harry and myself found the comet at 11:05 P.M.. Hale-Bopp is now in "SCUTUM". The tail is getting even wider and easy to see. A neculeus is easy to see and the comet still gets better with power. Still not visible with binocs. from my house yet. Comet seems to be about 6th. mag.. This is my third entry on this comet. 12. COMET; Hale-Bopp, c/1995 01, 07/19/96, My fourth view of many to come. Tonight I saw Hale-Bopp through binocs., for the first time. Still in "SCUTUM", and looking real good. Must be 5th mag. by now. Tonight I took my first picture of this comet and the picture came out real good. Looked good in my telescope. 13. Comet Hale-Bopp, 2/1/97, 6:15 A.M.. My first time seeing this comet in the morning. Was found in "AQUILA" just to the upper left of the star "Altair". The comet was huge in size, but due to the mist in the air, tails weren"t visible. Magnitute must be at least 2nd or brighter. Definitly naked eye. My second naked eye comet. A nice tail is visible in my new 35 x 50 binocs. 14. Comet Tabur, (c/1996 Q1), 10/12/96 in "URSA MAJOR". Found with binocs just to the lower right of "Beta". 10hr 58min +56 degrees. Was easy to see. Looked like a fuzz ball. Couldn't see a neucleus with binocs. and didn't take my telescope out. 5.5 mag.. My 4th comet this year and my 7th total. Will look through scope another time. NOTE; Comet was never visible again. Bad weather first and by time it got nice enough to see again it was gone. 15. 3/12/97, found Hale-Bopp in the evening tonight for the first time. Comet is 0.0 mag. with a 20 degree tail of gas and a 10 degree tail of dust. Tail lays horizontal to the horizon. Time was 8:10P.M.. Comet is extremely strong. Will be closest to the sun March 31. Naked eye or with binocs. or with a telescope, this comet is definitly number one. Already brighter than Hyakutake. Lord knows what this comet would look like if it were as close to earth as Hyakutake was. 16. 3/20/97, the first day of spring. Devon and I saw Hale-Bobb tonight in the west at around 8 P.M.. This is her second comet. Imagine that, Devons' first two comets are Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp. 17. 7/28/00, Comet "Linear c/1999 S4". Found in "LEO". Was at the 2000 Stellafane convention in Vermont. Saw through binocs., through Donnas’, a member of the "Willingboro Astronomy Society", telescope and through a gentlemens telescope we met that actually found it for us. I did not get his name. It was around 5th to 6th mag. Its orbital period is 14,267,833.7 years so I don’t think I will catch it next time around. I could see no neucleus, but a tail was evident because of the shape. It had a galaxy, nebula appearance. This is and will be the only sighting of this comet. I would not have been able to see this comet from home. Was a very important sighting becaue this is the first comet I saw that Norm didn’t. 18. 4/1/02, 7:20 P.M. EST, Neptune, New Jersey, Comet Ikeya-Zhang. Found in Andromeda just east and a little higher in the sky than "Beta Andromeda". Comet has a very broad tail. Saw with 35 X 50 binocs. 19. 4/7/02, 4:10 A.M., DST, Neptune, New Jersey, Comet Ikeya-Zhang. Found in the morning this time. Comet is up just about all night. Big ball with very little tail showing. 20. 8/10/02. COMET HOENIG, C/2002 04, Springfield, Vermont, Stellafane, mag. 9.5, very bright, saw through a 14 dob., no tail. 21. 8/10/02, PERSEID METEOR SHOWER, Springfield Vermont, saw 38 meteors, not bad, I was looking into a telescope most of the time. 22. 5/10/04. COMET NEAT, C/2001 Q4, Neptune, New Jersey. found Comet NEAT in CANIS MINOR with binocs. Was around 4th mag at this point. Found again at Norms on 5/14/02 at a star party. Saw with my 6 inch Meade refractor and with Jimmy Macks' 12 in Meade LX200. Could see movement compared to 2 stars that the comet was traveling in between. Could see movemnt in as little as 1 minute. Managed to see naked eye at Norms. Nice image in the telescope. No tail was visible with or without a telescope at any time I saw this comet. Most likely my last time seeing this Comet. It has been 21 Months since my last comet entry. Let us hope it is not that long again. 23. 3/6/06. COMET POJMANSKI, C/ 2006 A1, Neptune, New Jersey. found Comet in DELPHINUS, low in the east. Comet was bright and big. Comet was between 5th and 6th mag. Nice view in binocs. This brings my total Comets to 13. 24. 4/28/06. COMET SCHWASSMANN-WACHMANN, 73P, FRAGMENT "C". found comet in HERCULES, just northwest of ZETA. Seen with my 12 1/2 Hardin reflector. Was very bright with a very wide tail. Comet was at least 3rd mag. The comet was moving very fast. Seen from Neptune, New Jersey. My total is now 14. But wait!!!!!!! 25. 4/28/06. COMET SCHWASSMANN-WACHMANN, 73P, FRAGMENT "B". found comet in CORONA BOREALIS, just southwest of TAU. Seen through Arthur Blakes 12 1/2 Discovery, using Binos and 2 9mm nags. Very nice view. B was not quite as bright as fragment C, but very close. Was moving just as fast and had a tail just as wide. 26. 10/14/06. COMET SWAN, C/2006 M4, found in CANES VENATICI at Batstow Village in Batstow N.J. State Park. Was bright and easy to see. No tail, even in my 12 1/2 inch dob. Seen in Binocs also. Comet number 16. 27. 07/14/07. COMET LINEAR, C/2006 VZ13, around 9.5 mag., looked like a star cluster. Not very bright, but the seeing wasn't that good. Seen through Joe Stiebers 12 in Discovery and Jimmys 12 1/2 inch meade. Coyle Field, New Jersey. My 17th Comet 28. 10/27/2007. COMET 17P/HOLMES, 10 PM. 2nd or 3rd Mag. Naked eye Comet. Looked like a new Star in Perseus. Saw from Neptune, New Jersey. Seen through Arthur Blakes, C6. The Comet was extreemly large and bright. The Necleus was bright and had a beautiful contrast to the Coma. The bottom of the Comet was much brighter than the top. I then put it in my 12 inch Deep Sky Hunter with a Tele Vue Visual Paracorr and a Nagler Type 6, 13 MM eyepiece. The image was overpowering. I could see 2 stars inside the Comet. Easily covered 1/3 of the eyepiece. One was just to the right of the Necleus and must have been around 10th mag. and the other was just inside the left edge of the Comet and was around 14th mag. I have never seen any image in a telescope like this one. Very, Very unique. My 18th. Comet. 29. 02/23/2009. COMET LILUN (C2007 N3), 2:30 AM. 28 degrees. 6th Mag. Seen with 10 X 50 Binoculars. Was located on the border of Virgo and Leo. Very bright in binoculars. Although I couldn't see color with binoculars, the Comet was green with a tail and anti-tail. Very unusual. I looked at this comet again on the 24th when it was only 2 degrees from Saturn in Leo. On the 25th, it was no longer visible in binoculars. To cold to set up my telescope at this point. If it warms up, I will. If not, this is it. My 19th Comet. 30. 09/17/2009. C2006 W3 (Christensen). Seen in Aquila at 11:30 PM. 8.3 Mag. Seen at the Black Forest Star Party. Seen through my Celestron CPC1100. No tail was visible. Nice image, but not a spectacular comet at all. Comet number 20. 31. 10/02/2010. 103P/HARTLEY. Seen in Cassiopia. 10.00PM at Atsion State Park in New Jersey. Dim, but visible. Seen through Jimmy Macks 12 inch Meade. 21st. Comet. 32. 08/26/2011. C2009 P1 (Garradd). Seen in the same field of view with M71 in SAGITTA. 2011 Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. Seen through my CPC1100, Arthurs 8 inch Dob, Mitchs' 24 inch Dob and Harolds 90MM Binoculars. Comet number 22 and counting! HOME ASTRONOMY LOGS |