The Mag 6.5 comet

by Joe Fragola

It's a conspiracy I tell ya!! I hadn't really planned to get up early today. But when I woke up around 4 am, I decided to try to catch a view of this new, relatively bright comet. Went out to check the sky conditions - clear. Walked over to side of yard - sprinklers had gone off earlier...my socks are all wet, but I'm fully awake now. Checked my Starry Night Pro program for location of Comet 2002/O6. So far, so good - except for the wet socks. Took socks off and got my 7x50 binoculars out of the case. By 4:30 am my view of Orion was still being blocked by the only big tree in my neighbor's backyard. I waited...and waited..and waited. By 5 am I was getting desperate - standing on a couple of bricks in a corner of my yard that gave me the best viewing angle above that tree. I started to identify the field. Three stars, then four, then five. I had the field nailed down...now to look at the position where the comet was located. Oh no....one lone, mutant branch of that @#$*&@ tree - sticking out right where the comet was!! There wasn't much observing time left - the sky was beginning to brighten. Bottom line is that I was skunked this morning. Comet hunters with a clear eastern horizon should be able to view the comet by 4:30 am as Bill did. I won't be deterred - plan for tomorrow is to get up early again and head over to the schoolyard field a couple of blocks away.