103P/Hartley - Naked Eye Comet In October

[DaveH64]

Taken at Loch Doon, Dalmellington, Session cut short due to broken remote cable. Which was a shame as it was a great sky.







You guys have been getting some good images lets hope it gets a burst of light intensity. John thanks for pointing out the NGC objects i would never have know.

[martinastro]

Congratulations Dave, great to see you picked up Hartley tonight, you have even captured the green colour in the cropped image - excellent. Love the MW capture too. Sorry to hear about the broken cable,hope you can get a replacement soon. Looking forward to seeing more images 

John, great shots, Hartley came up extremely well at 70mm with a minimum of trailing, that's an impressive result for a 'slow' lens. Keep the images coming....

[rjgjr]

Those are some great shots everyone, especially the latest from Martin, John and Dave. Completely fogged over all day here so I don't expect any action tonught. Good Luck!

[markt]

Brilliant images guys, glad you're getting some views in - alas no clear skies for me as of yet...

[John9929]

Thanks all! Well done Dave, I know Loch Doon, you have some of the darkest skies in the country there. No probs re the NGC's, in fact if you look closely at our closeups you can see the beginnings of the Pacman Nebula just left of the comet.

Martin, the 70mm does a good job but it would do better driven. Must wind that old clock-drive I used for H-B to see what I can get.

[martinastro]

I could see Hartley with the naked eye tonight under a stunning crystal clear sky at a dark location outside of town. Averted vision was needed however there was no question about it's brightness. A few images...

[markt]

Great additions Martin!  I must thank you, as after looking at your pics I decided to check if it was clear - lo and behold it was, and with the help of your latest images and the chart at the start of the thread set out to find Hartley.  Using my 15x70 binoculars hartley was easily visible using averted vision, and occassionally using direct vision.  Now, bear in mind here i'm observing from the suburbs of Birmingham where it is light pollution central, also there was haze / mist about aswell, also bins were handheld, so i'm pretty pleased with myself!

I also found myself exploring and taking in all the star clusters in and around cassiopeia, forgot how much fun binocular observing is!  Swinging around Jupiter and moons are plain to see, and throw in uranus in the same fov and my sunday night is made!

Gonna have to keep my eye on Hartley, it always feels good to know you've seen a comet!

Keep the images and reports coming folks, this is a great thread! 

[John9929]

Well done Martin seeing it with the NE, my eyesight's not good enough for that but it was very easy in the 10x50 bins, it has noticably brightened.

Mark, great that you've seen it, I'm in the middle of a housing estate but fortunate that most of the lights are blocked from my back garden. Bins are a great way to scan the sky. The comet is now quite an easy target for the 1.8 lens, here's an image taken a while ago. That's the Perseus Double Cluster at the bottom.

[martinastro]

Just in from another visual session, I can see the comet naked eye quite easily now that Cass is at the zenith, it stands out so much more compared to earlier!, I could see Hartley, Double Cluster, and M31 in the same visual triangle. The comet actually looks massive - even larger than the binocular view, I only had a few min's of dark adaption and I could see it, anybody with clear skies now should give it a go. For naked comparison it is fainter than M33 (as seen with naked eye) and also fainter than the Gegenschein however it is still readily visible. The view through the scope is so much better too - this comet is getting more interesting by the night! 

Excellent image John!, Hartley is sticking out like a sore thumb, that's got to be the most clear DSLR widefield image I have seen of the comet so far  ..and what a stunning sky tonight too!

Well done Mark, I'm delighted you saw the comet through the trusty binos, great fun without the shackle of  a telescope isn't it, not to mention so much quicker and more freedom. The fact that you saw it at all with the LP glow is really something. Keep following it 

[brianb]

I'm still not sure I can see it with NE.

[rjgjr]

Great images and reports everyone. Due to cloudy and foggy weather I've been unable to do any viewing the past several nights, the forecast looks better towards the middle of the week. Hopefully I can get in on the fun at that time. Keep em' coming!!

[DaveH64]

Some more good captures Martin And John awaiting my new remote cable so can get out again. Good to see others seeing it too.

[brianb]

Nice sight in C11 x70 but imaging this comet seems to be jinxed for me ... apart from the very small scale effort above, two tries, two equipment failures ... battery went down the first time, clutch slipping the second. Lack of clear nights is the problem, equipment doesn't fail when it gets used regularly.

[Paul]

Got this last night.....



Actually I messed up the camera settings and took 20 x 30secs instead of the intended 10 x 60secs by the simple mistake of setting the shutter to 30secs instead of B - the intervalometer attached was supposed to deliver 10 x 1 min but the interaction of the two settings gave me this! 200mm lens @ f5.6, ISO800.

[John9929]

Thanks lads! Nice shot Paul, I take it that was maybe driven? Here's a couple from 01.30BST when it was at the zenith. One wide and one crop from another frame, 25" at f2 50mm lens. The sky was fantastic last night, quite a few meteors as well!