My Comet slam-book



By admin; Published 25 Oct 2010

COMETS, ME & MYSELF...

A statistical analysis of my comets observed (as of time of this writing in July 2010), summarized in the following link:

http://www.angelfire.com/space2/amar/Comets_observed.htm

1) Total Comets Observed = 32 + 2
i) Self / Amateur equipment - 31
ii) Other (Kavalur 40-inch) - 1
iii) Additional observations - 2
(Hale-Bopp and Ikeya-Zhang) (not counted in my list as core comets)
[Also sketched nearly half of them]

2) Equipments used till now
i) Binoculars - 10x50, 25x100, 7x50
ii) Telescopes - 8", 12", 17.5", 6" (only once)

3) i) Total periodic - 14
ii) Total non-periodic - 18
(excluding the 2 not counted ones)
iii) Years in Comet observing (as of July 2010) - 6.5 - since 2004
[# per year - 2004 - 3 / 2006 - 6 / 2007 - 4 / 2008 - 9 / 2009 - 7 / 2010 - 3]

4) Approximately comets missed and / or attempted in observing career
-- Approximately 20-25 (!) (have been subjected to boundless trials, struggle & sacrifices)

5) First comet (unsuccessfully) attempted
-- 2/P Encke - 25th October 2003
(beautiful rendezvous with Andromeda galaxy)

6) Maximum comets unsuccessfully 'attempted' in one night
-- Four - 12th Feb 2005

7) First comet observed
-- C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) @ 17th Jan 2004
(very challenging, for a complete newbie observer to track a 7th mag comet with only a 7x50 binocular!)

8) Best comet occasions
i) 4/P Faye @ 1 am. On 17th Oct 2006; my Birthday! A new comet observed, very memorable.
ii) 217/P LINEAR, exactly 3 years later on yet another Birthday. A new comet observed...Divine coincidence!

9) Favorite comet observed
-- Should be the 9th mag 4/P Faye only, for the memorable occasion. Very beautiful, displaying a tiny visual tail extending from coma.

10) Best comet sighting
i) C/2007 N3 Lulin through 25x100 handheld (simply breath-taking from skies of Chikmaglur, Western Ghats. The tail extended to more than 2-degrees out of binoc f.o.v!)
ii) 17/P Holmes through 10x50 (simply stupendous parabolic shaped very bright coma)

11) Only doubtful observation in my list
-- P/2006 T1 Levy
(extremely faint, that too zodiacal light intervened in the dawn eastern sky)

12) Most easiest observation
-- 17/P Holmes (2.5 mag!)
(as a fuzzy star naked-eyes immediately above a bright -15 mag Sodium vapur lamp!)

13) Most difficult observation
-- 22/P Kopff (~13th mag)
(Excessively faint even with a 17.5" ..Even my observing partner Akarsh with ISO 7200 equivalent eyes had a hard time confirming the very diffuse coma!)

14) Most sought-after (not practically) comet
-- 29/P Schwassmann-Wachmann-1, and its frequent outbursts

15) Maximum observations of one comet
-- 73/P Schwassmann Wachmann-3
(During it's fragmentation days, observed for 7 of 14 days in May 2006 from a dark site! Many other times around that period)

16) Maximum new comets observed on any night - 2 new comets on 2 different nights
i) Session dubbed as "Hand of God @ eyepiece session - 10th April 2008"
ii) My 29th & 30th comet from Coorg - December 2009

17) Comet observed in any rendezvous with another DSO
-- C/2009 K5 McNaught with globular cluster NCG 6760 (same field of view)

18) Favorite comet missed
-- C/2004 F4 Bradfield
(evening-twilight long tailed one in mid-2004) (was "bored" to go out and observe it from terrace!) (an image here. more images can be found here )

19) Memorable rendezvous
-- 2/P Encke + Andromeda galaxy (missed observing. an image here )

20) Next periodic expected
-- 2/P Encke - August 2010

21) Periodic comet returned maximum times in my observing career
-- Three - 2/P Encke (Oct 2003, April 2007 & August 2010)

22) Earliest sighting before reaching perihelion
i) C/2006 W3 Christensen - 31st October 2008 (9 months before perihelion in July 2009)
ii) C/2007 N3 Lulin - 4th September 2008 (5 months before it made news during peak brightness in Feb 2009)

23) Memorable comet misses (in order of intensity)
-- C/2007 F1 LONEOS, 2/P Encke, 96/P Machholz-1, more...

24) Any other highlight of life:
-- Missed the visual 2006 discovery of Comet P/2006 T1 (Levy) near Saturn itself! We were out observing the same day 2nd October 2006 and did give a glimpse at the Ringed-planet, but sadly...!! :-(

25) Unprecedented attempt at any comet
i) (Unsuccessful attempt) trying to observe the Tail of the Daylight comet of 2006; C/2006 P1 McNaught above horizon, when the comet itself was below the horizon!
ii) Meteor showers predicted from the fragmented visible comet 73/P SW-3. We did spot a couple meteors on this rare event in summer 2006!

26) Unprecedented Antic
-- Scanning a 10x50 binocular for ~10 seconds in hunt for "Eclipse Comets" during the Total Solar Eclipse - 2009, neglecting the glory of the totality from the best location in India; Varanasi !!!

MOVING ON FROM STASTICS TO ABSTRACTISM

1) Strongest turn-on / Intuition
-- [And I am at no words with this] My 25x100 IF Oberwerk preying on an evening twilight sky, hoarding a faint tailed binocular comet!

2) Dream comet-type to observe
-- Not sure, quite a few. Something like the Daylight comet of 1882 transit over the Sun's surface!

3) Ultimate desire
-- Indeed a periodic gift like P/2011 Amar (even though last name Sharma would be attributed, and not the first name Amar)

4) Renewed source of cometary inspiration
i) Self-spirit to keep going & love for comets
ii) International comet amateurs

5) Compilation work
-- Preparing the most comprehensive treatise on the web on the only comet discovery by an Indian, by Prof M.K.V.Bappu - C/1949 N1 (Bappu-Newkirk-Bok)
( http://www.bas.org.in/Home/blog/amaruniverse/2009/23/03/treatise-vainu-bappus-comet )

6) Few accolades
i) Astronomical League's Silver comet certificate & pin
ii) Dr. Alan Hale's "Countdown to 500 comets"
( http://www.earthriseinstitute.org/com_awards.html )
( http://www.earthriseinstitute.org/comobservers.html )
( http://www.earthriseinstitute.org/com_ment.html )

7) Life's goal
-- Amateur / professional career in comets

8) Tagline
-- Love & live chasing every elusive heavenly visitor (even under clouds!), every now, then, and forever :-)

9) Nickname
i) Comet-Sanyasi
ii) astronAmar