(On Tuesday night, I observed C/2007 N3 (Lulin) along with Saturn, and Titan as it approached the planet's disk prior to its morning transit, and a handful of DSOs from the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's Naylor Observatory. The comet, as good as it was through a 5" f/5 achromat and a 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain, paled in comparison to the way it would appear the following night under much better skies.)
Comet Lulin was quite a sight from a sixth magnitude dark site last night. It was visible to the naked-eye with averted vision. Some color could be seen in the large coma through a friend's 6" f/8 Astrozap refractor and my 8" f/6 Starsplitter Tube Dob, using a 42mm GSO widefield eyepiece. In addition to the borrowed 42mm, I viewed C/2007 N3 (Lulin) with my 35mm Panoptic and 13mm Ethos at 35 and 94x respectively.
I also observed Comet Lulin with my 8x42 Celestron Regals (the comet and Saturn were still in the same 6.25 degree field of view), a 16" f/4.5 LightBridge with a Denkmeier binoviewer and 21mm Denkmeier oculars, and a 20" f/5 Obsession and a 35mm Panoptic. The comet's pseudonucleus was very prominent and its dust tail extended for approximately 3/4's of a degree.
We also had a look at the periodic comet 144P/Kushida with the 6" refractor and my 8" Dob at 35 and 94x. The comet was within Collinder 65, near a bright copper-colored star, which I believe was 117 Tauri. Comet Kushida was faint and its coma was extremely diffuse.
Dave Mitsky
Comet Lulin was quite a sight from a sixth magnitude dark site last night. It was visible to the naked-eye with averted vision. Some color could be seen in the large coma through a friend's 6" f/8 Astrozap refractor and my 8" f/6 Starsplitter Tube Dob, using a 42mm GSO widefield eyepiece. In addition to the borrowed 42mm, I viewed C/2007 N3 (Lulin) with my 35mm Panoptic and 13mm Ethos at 35 and 94x respectively.
I also observed Comet Lulin with my 8x42 Celestron Regals (the comet and Saturn were still in the same 6.25 degree field of view), a 16" f/4.5 LightBridge with a Denkmeier binoviewer and 21mm Denkmeier oculars, and a 20" f/5 Obsession and a 35mm Panoptic. The comet's pseudonucleus was very prominent and its dust tail extended for approximately 3/4's of a degree.
We also had a look at the periodic comet 144P/Kushida with the 6" refractor and my 8" Dob at 35 and 94x. The comet was within Collinder 65, near a bright copper-colored star, which I believe was 117 Tauri. Comet Kushida was faint and its coma was extremely diffuse.
Dave Mitsky
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
