Here's an 8'diameter homemade obsveratory. He used red lights outside as it's doesn't affect your night vision.....This is similar to what I am currently building......
Posted on 12/20/2002 6:31:36 PM PST by djf
Astronomers have received a holiday bonanza in the form of the arrival of a previously unknown comet that has entered our part of the solar system. The comet was discovered by a Japanese amateur astronomer, Tetuo Kudo, early on the morning of December 14, said Clay Sherrod, an astronomer with the Arkansas Sky laboratory.
"In mid- to late-January the comet will be favorably placed for early risers in the northern hemisphere and will probably be visible to the naked eye, at least toward the end of that month," Sherrod said. "Certainly binoculars will aid in spotting the comet and exposing any tail that it might show."
Named Kudo-Fujikawa (and officially designated C/2002 X5), the comet is moving east-southeast through the constellation Hercules.
Halley's comet orbits the Earth every 76 years, and its next scheduled visitation is in 2061. Astronomers hope that the newly discovered comet, C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa, will provide an equally impressive show for viewers here on Earth.
Photograph copyright Stocktrek/CORBIS
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"The comet is a swift-moving object and currently is easily visible in the northeastern skies during pre-dawn hours, showing a pretty distinct tail and large coma (head or halo, caused by the emanation of gases and other materials as the comet warms up on its approach to the sun). The tail appears to be slightly less than one-half degree and several spikes in this tail have been recorded (on December 15) by imagers in New Mexico," Sherrod said.
The jury is still out regarding just what kind of show Kudo-Fujikawa would provide Earth-based viewers when it is closest to the sun, but there is a prospect that it would be a "textbook comet," Sherrod said. "However, the visibility during its greatest brilliance…will be greatly hampered because of the comet's angle of approach to the sun and the Earth-sun-comet positioning during that period."
Towards the end of January, the comet will be approaching the sun and swinging behind it from Earth's vantage point, thus getting lower and lower each successive morning into early February.
"In February the comet will be more favorably placed for observers in the southern hemisphere, and there are some estimates that suggest that the comet could attain a brightness equal to the bright planet Venus (a magnitude of less than 4)," Sherrod said.
Magnitude is a measure of brightness used by astronomers. The lower the magnitude value of an object, the brighter that object is.Objects that shine with a magnitude of less than 6 are usually visible with the naked eye. Kudo-Fujikawa is currently being seen at a magnitude of between 7 and 8.
Much of what Earth will be able to see of Kudo-Fujikawa is contingent on the activity that occurs when it is closest to its pass by the sun (perihelion) on January 28, 2003, Sherrod said. At that point it will be only 16 million miles (25 million kilometers) from the sun. The average distance of the Earth from the sun is 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
"The retrograde orbit (meaning the comet is coming in at an opposite direction in relation to the orbits of the primary planets) of this comet and its close pass from the sun at that time have suggested to many, myself included, that the comet might potentially break up from solar radiation and solar wind. If this does indeed occur, then we might expect more volatile activity from this object than if it passes perihelion totally intact and unscathed.
"Now, if this does happen, then we might expect an incredible comet to be visible as the inner, more volatile and rare gases are exposed to solar radiation," Sherrod said.
For more precise instructions of how to find the comet—and Sherrod's regular updates on its progress—please visit the Arkansas Sky Observatory.
Try abebooks.com : have done business with them for about 2 years and never had a problem.
With these telescopes he independently discovered twelve comets and six novae and made over 130,000 variable star observations.
Wow, that's a very, very serious amateur! 130,000 variable star observations translates to around ten a night for 40 years. I wonder how many potentially serious amateurs today are frittering away their nights on the internet instead of observing? You'd think Al Gore would be ashamed to show his face in public. ;-)
Back in the 80's I read a story about Japan's top amateur comet hunter. IIRC, the guy actually lived in Tokyo! I can't imagine doing any serious astronomy with that much light pollution around me. But he had spent a small fortune on his observatory and there was no way you could argue with his accomplishments in amateur astronomy.
He also had an amazing pair of binoculars that he had spent many, many thousands of dollars on, and that he used to scan the sky every night. I can't remember exactly how much he paid for them, but it blew me away when I read about them. I didn't know such things existed . . . But they definitely put my 11x80s to shame. Anyway, if he found anything of interest, he'd go straight to the telescope to check it out. If not, he'd fall back on his regular systematic searching, shooting pictures all night.
Here's an 8'diameter homemade obsveratory. He used red lights outside as it's doesn't affect your night vision.....This is similar to what I am currently building......
They use binoculars due to their extreme wide field of view. For that specific application, hunting asteroids and comets, they are hard to beat. They can cover a lot more sky, much faster than astronomical telescopes that have much smaller field of views.
These are kind of extreme for binoculars. Each lens is almost 5 inches in diameter. 20 power also means the field of view is somewhat limited compared to ordinary 7 or 10 power binoculars. Plenty of power and light-gathering ability; perfect for comet finding.
I do however, have one of these. But the binocs would be much better for looking for comets.
And nothing wrong with Dobs. As a matter of fact, some of the new ones have huge primary mirrors, like 16" and up. They are a little pricy but they pack a whole lot of light gathering ability. I have seen some homemade Dobs that are 21" diameter.
The only draw back with Dobs is the lack the tracking ablility for CCD imaging or astro photography.
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