Seiichi Yoshida's Diary of Comet Observations (2009)
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Updated on September 23, 2009 |
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Go to Seiichi Yoshida's Diary of Comet Observations in 2010. |
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2009 Sept. 20 (10 comets) |
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I observed 10 comets visually on Sept. 20 in Kita-karuizawa, Gunma, Japan.
The sky condition was excellent, completely fine with no clouds all day and all through the night. It was chilly like a winter.
Venus and Regulus made rendezvous in the morning sky.
I also tried to observe 29P appearing in the morning sky. But the morning dawn started, the background sky became too bright, and I could not observe the comet. Juro Kobayashi reported it is now bright as 11.5 mag in outburst. I could find stars down to 12.9 mag, but could not find the comet.
C/2006 W3 ( Christensen )
8.7 mag Dia. 7.5' DC 7 (40.0-cm reflector 36x)
Very bright! The central part is sharp with a strong condensation. But it is surrounded with a very large diffuse coma. The comet is also visible with a 10x70 monocular.
C/2007 N3 ( Lulin )
fainter than 13.6 mag Dia. 0.7' (40.0-cm reflector 144x)
It became too faint to see visually.
C/2008 N1 ( Holmes )
fainter than 13.8 mag Dia. 0.3' (40.0-cm reflector 144x)
Now it should be brightest, but I could not see it.
C/2008 P1 ( Garradd )
fainter than 14.2 mag Dia. 0.5' (40.0-cm reflector 257x)
Remarkable comet with a long tail. Now it should be brightest too, but I could not see it.
22P/Kopff
10.8 mag Dia. 2.0' DC 3-4 (40.0-cm reflector 75x)
I observed it in late time, because it was overlapped on a 10 mag star in the evening. Bright and easy to see even in the low sky.
I could see this comet again since 1996 when Comet Hale-Bopp was bright near by this comet.
81P/Wild 2
13.7 mag Dia. 0.4' DC 6 (40.0-cm reflector 144x)
Already visible visually. Tiny and moderately condensed. This comet will be bright in early 2010.
88P/Howell
8.9 mag Dia. 3.1' DC 4 (40.0-cm reflector 75x)
Very bright and easy to see even in the low sky. Moderately condensed.
It is the 3rd apparition of this comet for me. This is my first comet that I observed in three apparitions.
118P/Shoemaker-Levy 4
fainter than 14.3 mag Dia. 0.3' (40.0-cm reflector 257x)
This comet will be bright in winter, and it should be brightening now. But I could not see it still now.
217P/LINEAR
10.2 mag Dia. 4.0' DC 7 Tail 8' (p.a. 255 deg) (40.0-cm reflector 36x)
Beautiful comet with a wide parabolic dust tail. Excellent view!
222P/LINEAR
13.6 mag Dia. 0.8' DC 1-2 (40.0-cm reflector 144x)
I imagined that it could have already faded out. But unexpectedly, it is still visible visually. Diffuse and faint.
Hidetaka Sato reported a large coma of 3.4 arcmin was detected by CCD observations on the same night. So I could see only the central part. I did not try to see it with a lower magnification. Using a lower magnification, maybe a large coma would be visible and the total magnitude would become brighter.
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I observed C/2008 T2 visually on May 2 in Kita-karuizawa, Gunma, Japan.
No evident clouds exists in the evening, but the sky was terribly hazy and a half moon shined. I could not see C/2009 F6, 67P, C/2007 N3 and C/2006 OF2. I could see C/2008 T2 only before it goes away to the southern sky.
It became completely cloudy after midnight.
C/2008 T2 ( Cardinal )
8.9 mag Dia. 2.2' DC 3-4 (40.0-cm reflector 144x)
I was surprised that the comet was clearly visible even in the terrible sky condition. Very bright. Widely diffuse but the center is dense.
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Go to Seiichi Yoshida's Diary of Comet Observations in 2008. |