Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas
 

Anyone besides me out looking at this comet? Tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to be the best 2 nights to view it.

I had to fight with some city light pollution to my west so the photos didn't come out worth a crap. I'm going to a different location tomorrow night.

https://images4.imagebam.com/e6/d6/07/MEWLC2H_o.png

I saw it when it was in the east and the last few nights. Best view was tonight.

Yeah we seent it tonight. A little difficult with a naked eye.

Tomorrow night is supposed to be pretty good as well.

Timing is important. Here we can only see it with the naked eye for about 30 minutes about 45 minutes after sundown.

This is true. I wish I had better equipment so I could take photos like these.

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/sub...1728949448.jpg

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/sub...1728957062.jpg

I saw it.

Billay is much more interested in seeing Uranus

Visible now in SD. 2'oclock from Venus.

I've been trying to see it for about a week now. Not working out for me.

Probably not viewable yet tonight in AZ. I start looking 45 minutes after sunset. You need a clear view with not much ground light. You might want to download the free Stellarium app from the play store.

The little woman took these tonight. :)

https://images4.imagebam.com/98/30/68/MEWM8FE_o.jpg

https://images4.imagebam.com/ee/dc/ac/MEWM8FF_o.jpg

https://images4.imagebam.com/73/a6/7e/MEWM8FG_o.jpg

It’s pretty cool, but it’s no Hale-Bopp.

Hale-Bopp was AWESOME!

Yeah, I was a 20 year old stoner college student when Hale-Bopp visited. My friend group would go out nightly to “commune” with it.

Hale-Bopp was a pussy comet compared to Haley's.

I've seen both and Halley's wasn't anywhere near as big or bright as Hale-Bopp. In fact, Halley's comet is way down the list in term of magnitude (brightness) compared to a lot of other comets.

Halley's comet had a magnitude of 2.4. For reference, the lower the number, the higher the magnitude of brightness.

Halley's Comet (1986): Magnitude 2.4
https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hire...leys-comet.jpg

Hale-Bopp (1996): Magnitude -0.8
https://www.augustachronicle.com/gcd...3-e0af7390.jpg

Comet McNaught (2007): Magnitude -5.5
https://cdn.britannica.com/47/153647...nuary-2007.jpg

Comet Ikeya-Seki (1965): Magnitude -10
https://cdn.britannica.com/46/123346...-Seki-1966.jpg

I've never seen a comet and I can't see this one. I think it's behind some high-rises that are west of my house.

I’m gonna be honest and say that this is absolutely shocking to me. You seem like an intellectually curious fellow and Hale-Bopp was visible for a long time. It was also plainly visible, no binoculars or long exposure photography needed.

Hale-Bopp was 1997.

Hale–Bopp became visible to the naked eye in May 1996.

Honestly, I'm kind of lazy about stuff like this, and I don't know why. I'm interested in things like comets and meteor showers, but I live in the middle of a big city, and I'd likely have to drive at least 45 minutes each way to get myself to any kind of view. So I inevitably shrug and say, "maybe next time".

If, after that 45 minute drive, you're not out in the middle of nowhere, where light pollution from the west is no longer visible on the horizon, you may as well stay at home. You won't be able to see anything.

If I drive 45 minutes east, then there'll be nothing east of me, but Denver west of me. So that's no good.

If I drive 45 minutes west, then I'd probably be close to the Continental Divide. I'd have a lot of dark west of me, but until I get to the top, the horizon is really, really close. If I drove to the top of the divide and then found a way to get off the highway, I bet I could get a really good view. But that's a pretty unpleasant drive that I usually try to avoid.

Hale-Bopp sounds familiar, is that the one with the cult that poisoned themselves?

That's correct. Heaven's Gate was the cult in question.

Kind of a tangent, but the song "Last Chance to Evacuate the Earth Before It Is Recycled" from Porcupine Tree is named after and contains a recorded passage from the Heaven's Gate leader.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xs5zNf7WhgM?si=z19YoIG0G8GfK_Rq" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>