25 February 2006

Peter and I are in the early planning stages of an expedition to try to observe the newly discovered comet C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) which is now a naked-eye object in a dark sky. It is supposed to make its best showing Monday morning then gradually fade over the coming week. Unfortunately it is low on the horizon where we normally have clouds. We are going to have to try to make out attempt tomorrow morning from Carl Schurz Park. After the comet rises near Venus the 3% illuminated last crescent Moon will rise followed by the Sun.

The weather is not supposed to be great for tomorrow morning. Although the cloud cover will only be around 30%, still higher than would be good for a low altitude event, the temperature will be in the 20s with winds also in the 20s and a wind chill dropping down to 8°F.

NOAA graphic

Finder chart

Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand graphic

I set Planetarium to display the location of Pojmanski at 0600 EST and then used Alt/Az to change the FOV center to the nearest whole degree values (138/13). Then I used timestep to back up in ten-minute intervals and found that Venus was in my FOV circles at 0530 EST. So if I go out and set up at 0530 EST with Venus in the FOV will the comet then be in the FOV at 0600 EST? It seems to make sense to me but I may be missing something.

Time	Event
0410 EST	Venus rises
0443 EST	C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) rises
0503 EST	Astronomical Twilight begins
0530 EST	Venus at Alt 12.75°, Az 138.07°M
0535 EST	Nautical Twilight begins
0600 EST	C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) at Alt 12.51°, Az 136.83°M
0602 EST	Moon rises
0607 EST	Civil Twilight begins
0634 EST	Sunrise

I haven't found anything more recent but at http://www.fg-kometen.de/C2006A1/06a1eaus.htm I found a prediction that if the comet continued to increase in brightness as it had been at the time of writing of that page, and it has, it would peak out around now at Mag 5.2 with a visual tail of about 2.5° (about 1.2 FOV in my binocular and the full FOV in SAR).

The New Comet Observation Home page: Recent News and Observations indicates that Pojmanski had reahced about Mag 5.2 yesterday and the tail was estimated to have been 1.25° long on the 21st.

More Information
Summary of observations with pictures
Observing report from the Possum Observatory (New Zealand) with some great pictures
Space.com article by Joe Rao (24Feb06)

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One last check on the weather before heading to bed.

CSC is predicting clear skies, average transparency and bad seeing for 0500 EST tomorrow.

Clear Skies Clock graphic

NOAA is indicating that the wind chill will be down around 5°F at 0500 EST tomorrow. Cloud cover is now predicted to be down around 20% with 50% relative humidity. The wind will be a killer at 20 MPH but is supposed to be out of the NW so should be at out backs most of the time.

NOAA graphic

I already have hot chocolate powder in the thermos bottle waiting for boiling water. I just hope I will be able to move after putting on all my layers of warm clothes.