Comment | Another hour-long drive (and back) this morning; the sky conditions were perhaps a bit better than they were yesterday, at least, the air was drier. The comet was located in a blank star field but I had no trouble locating it or seeing it; I was able to follow it for about 15 minutes before the sky became too bright. Distinctly non-stellar, but still quite condensed. The coma measurement is somewhat of an upper limit. When I examined the comet at 152x the coma appeared slightly fan-shaped, with the apex in the sunward direction; no sign of a tail, but in the bright sky that's not surprising. Since perihelion passage is now only three weeks away I won't hold my breath for any major display, unless it undergoes some kind of dramatic brightness surge as it passes through perihelion. |