Thursday, December 20, 2018

46p again

Viewed the comet again last night, but under very much worse conditions.  The sky was hazy with fog and high clouds, and the waxing moon was placed near Auriga, washing out the sky.  I spent about 15 minutes searching by sweeping in the finder and in the 12.5-inch, before deciding the better way was to star hop using the finder chart.  I did eventually find it, but it was very tough; a "breath on a mirror" in the finder and a hazy quasi-stellar point with some haze around it in the scope.  I tracked it for about 20 minutes to be sure of movement.  The coma was very faint and diffuse.  Moonlight was pouring into my tube however I think by focuser baffle did its job to block the light.


I then turned to the moon itself, which still showed pretty well despite the fog haze.  Binoviewers.  I especially enjoyed the Aristarchus Plateau and had a really good look at the Marius Hills, the first time I recall seeing them.  Both these features have a strikingly square appearance, due probably to uplift and different shading of the surface.  I wonder why?  Reiner Gamma showed really well, the paisley shaped bright feature with its elongated bright oval and squiggly tail.  Seeing was not very good so I didn't push magnification very high.

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