have you seen Comet Lulin?

I've not seen it myself yet - but, I believe its visible to the naked eye around now. You should get to a nice dark space well away from streetlights. Its high in the south around midnight (very roughly half way between horizon and overhead. It will be lower and further east the earlier on
you look).

Look for the distinctive "backwards ? question mark" of leo. the Bright "star" lower and to the left is Saturn - see if you can see a faint, fuzzy blob lower and more left again. Comet moves as the nights go on, as the chart shows.

Enjoy!

Thank you for that mr. nobut. Will keep an eye out.

I know where Cancer is but not Leo - is it in Leo tonight or Virgo ?

I haven't a hope with Virgo.

It's in Leo/virgo Border - the dates on the chart are written American-style so tonight is 2/20, tomorrow is 2/21

Cancer is immediately beside Leo - just off the chart, to the right. So if you know where Cancer is in the sky, just look to the left - hard to mistake that reversed "?"mark shape. Saturn is the Yellowy bright "star" lower left (steady & not twinkling).

I just had a look from here in dublin, but its still to far to the east, which means I'm looking towards a motorway, and its a bit hazy - not good combination for stargazing! Needless to say I've had no luck yet.

Well I see Leo now ... Saturn is in the bottom left-hand corner of it but there's a bit of cloud around now towards where Virgo might be ...

http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=C%2F2007%20N3&Session=kebgcoghihkoklmndfdaemoh

Click on above.

it's been cloud every night when ive gone out to look

Anyone caught a glimpse yet?

Quote :

Comet Lulin's closest approach will be on February 24^th, 2009 at a distance of about 61 million kilometers.
By now, Comet Lulin is predicted to be 5^th
magnitude, which means it could be visible to the naked eye in rural
locations. The most interesting thing about closest approach, however,
is the comet's ridiculously high apparent velocity. Comet Lulin will be
speeding along at more than 5° per day! This means that in a telescope
or binoculars, one will actually be able to see the comet's apparent
motion against the background stars! This effect is a must-see, and
does not present itself often.

Is it cloudy where you are?

yehbut_nobut wrote:

it's been cloud every night when ive gone out to look

Anyone caught a glimpse yet?

Quote :

Comet Lulin's closest approach will be on February 24^th, 2009 at a distance of about 61 million kilometers.
By now, Comet Lulin is predicted to be 5^th
magnitude, which means it could be visible to the naked eye in rural
locations. The most interesting thing about closest approach, however,
is the comet's ridiculously high apparent velocity. Comet Lulin will be
speeding along at more than 5° per day! This means that in a telescope
or binoculars, one will actually be able to see the comet's apparent
motion against the background stars! This effect is a must-see, and
does not present itself often.

Is it cloudy where you are?

Cloudy here. Can get to a rural area fairly quick if it was starry. No binoculars though ...

It would be an amazing site to see it move against the background stars!

Cloudy here too. Doh!

Can't click on whatever image Yehbut_nobut used on the opening post, but the thread prompted me to go out into the garden. Strange yellowish / no, more orange-y sky tonight in London's suburbs. Not what you're looking for, but I'm glad I had a look. Is really quite mild, very quiet, especially in the sky, quiet and with a really unusual orange-tinged sky. Definitely a bit [/i]different[i].

But maybe it's just gonna be a mild day tomorrow!

And lo! the opening image has suddenly appeared on my screen - and tonight's sky definitely looks nothing like that. Our sky tonight is warm gloopy orange stuff.

Can anyone tell me why they keep those damn lights on all night when no one is up?

link to another finder chart here (pdf):

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Comet_Lulin_Feb13.pdf

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0227/1224241893020.html

Tonight's the night to watch the Moon, Venus and Lulin.

Is it too late tonight? It is fabulously clear, starry and bright.

cactus flower wrote:

Is it too late tonight? It is fabulously clear, starry and bright.

I don't think it is - you might see the comet high up in the south-west -ish..... which I'm off to do right now.

Auditor #9 wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Is it too late tonight? It is fabulously clear, starry and bright.

I don't think it is - you might see the comet high up in the south-west -ish..... which I'm off to do right now.

I was way out ! The comet is to the east at least - Leo is in that direction anyway but the comet and Saturn weren't very visible to me. What is in the South-West is a waxing crescent Moon and a very bright Venus nearby - they'll both set soon so hurry hurry hurry for a gawk.

What a fabulous night.

It is a fabulous night indeed.

There's something startlingly bright moving from the southwest towards a lazy, lying on its back moon - which appears to be in the northwest where I am.

Tis in the Wesht Katie P - west south west in the constellation of Pisces the fish.

Seems like I've just spotted my first comet, so. Wey hey!

Is Lulin still around Audi?

What is that extraordinarily bright and large sparkly feature in the south eastish?

Passing through Cancer now - and I've yet to catch sight of it!

As its moving away from us now, I'm not sure if its a binoculars only sight at this stage.

heres a link to a PDF map of where it is up to the 20th
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Comet_Lulin_Mar1.pdf

and beyond then:

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Comet_Lulin_Mar14.pdf

interesting to note by how much slower it moves (or appears to move) across the sky as the days pass...

I saw it last night. It was a little speck of a thing, but cool.