by Bob Jardine
I'm sure most of you know about the two bright comets that will be here in late April and March; they have gotten a lot of press. Well, in fact, there are three; the third one (C2004 F4, Bradfield) is very recently discovered, so it isn't as well publicized; and two of them are already here, if you are willing to get up in the early AM.
So I set the alarm for 4:30 this morning to try to see the first two of them. But morning comets are tough from where I live, because they are always in the East -- you know, near the sun. So I get to look directly across the worst of the SJ light dome.
But I figured it was worth a try, since it has been so clear the last couple of days, and the morning fog is no longer with us.
But there was no joy. I couldn't even see any stars without optical aid below about 30 degrees in altitude; nada. I scanned with binos from the horizon up to about 30 deg in the E and NE for almost an hour, when it started to brighten. Not a trace of a comet.
To give you an idea how bad the light pollution was, I looked for M31. It took awhile, because there weren't many stars available, even in binos, but I finally found it -- a pathetic dim little smudge.
If any of you lives in a location with a dark East, I would suggest giving this a try. You'll get two nekked eye comets for the price of one! But Joe Bob says to check it out soon -- this offer ends in just a few days.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Apr 24, 2004 17:43:08 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 10, 2004 19:25:31 PT