I just got back inside from observing the comet 8P/Tuttle. It’s moving! It’s in Aries tonight, several degrees from where it was last night. It also looked to be a bit fainter, though the size is about the same. It was easy to find in my big binocs (15×70s), so it shouldn’t be too hard in smaller ones too.
It’s moving so quickly that a daily skymap is needed to trace its path; check SpaceWeather.com or Heavens Above for the latest one. Again, you should also check BAUT for recent images, too. If you have any, post ‘em!
January 1st, 2008 at 11:06 pm
wahhhhh! We are so socked in here on the West Coast, I don’t think we’ll see clear skies til Spring! Hopefully some pics will show up.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 am
APOD has a great picture of the comet near the Triangulum galaxy http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080102.html
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 am
Ah, I see you have a fan, Phil.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:52 am
Very cool pic, cs.
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:14 am
Looks like the guy has been spamming Wikipedia using the username ‘Bad Astronomer’ as well.
Time to get out the tasers, Phil
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:32 am
I can see why someone would spam Wikipedia using your name, but to insult you on your own website? Does this person think you’ll read the comment and say, “Oh! I wrote these comments, so I won’t delete them.”?
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
This brings back greatmemories of seeing comet McNaught last year about this time which was the best comet I’ve ever seen. (From Goolwa in South Australia it was just superluminous- far beyond mere brilliance.)
Great to see the summer comet tradition continue .. What mag is comet Tuttle now and how bright is it likely to get ?
Also don’t I vaguely recall this same comet Tuttle (forget the catalogue no. lets just use the discoverers name like we used to for pity’s sake!) being responsible for a meteor shower?
… Or was that comet Swift -Tuttle?
How many comet Tuttles (or Swift / X~Tuttle) are there?
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
It is said that one has not truly obtained enlightenment until one has received an anonymous threat over the internet.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:03 am
I deleted the offending comment. Just a note; if you see something like that, best thing to do is notify me. Replying here won’t be of any use, since I’ll be deleting the comment or marking it as spam.
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Time to get out the tasers, Phil
If you’re going to use a taser, don’t forget to get training from the RCMP.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Just took my daughter out into the cold night. Saw both comets and Andromeda! Way cool!
We just moved farther from the city, and the sky is so much nicer here. Now I have to buy a decent telescope.