Elenin Facts For The Viewing Of

Hello ATS,

I decided to post this as a mere advisory thread for those that are currious. I decided to set the record straight about March 15 and the Comet Elenin....There is no association at all between the two. As follows
Elenin

It doesn't look like much now — just a tiny, 19th-magnitude smudge tucked away in southwestern Virgo — but a newly discovered comet could become something special 10 months from now.
Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1) made its debut on December 10th when Leonid Elenin, an observer in Lyubertsy, Russia, remotely acquired four 4-minute-long images using an 18-inch (45-cm) telescope at the ISON-NM observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. Follow-up images by Aleksei Sergeyev and Artyom Novichonok at Maidanak Observatory in Uzbekistan revealed more about the new find: it had a teardrop-shaped, very diffuse coma just 6 arcseconds across and a tiny tail.
What's gotten hearts beating a little faster since the discovery is that Comet Elenin is still more than 4 astronomical units (375 million miles) from the Sun and headed inbound. It's still early, and the calculated orbit is certain to change in the weeks ahead as more position measurements are made, but right now it appears that the comet's perihelion will occur well inside Earth's orbit, about 0.45 a.u. (42 million miles) from the Sun, next September 5th.
Right now, odds are that Comet Elenin will become an easy target for binoculars around mid-August and reach naked-eye visibility for a couple of weeks around perihelion. The comet's elongation from the Sun shrinks to just 1° following perihelion, but soon thereafter the comet gets enough separate to position itself nicely for viewing in the predawn sky.
Moreover, it's traveling very near the ecliptic plane, and as it sweeps close to the Sun its sky location won't stray far from the ecliptic until mid-September, when the path arcs slowly northwestward through Leo. That's a plus for skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere.
Finally, because Comet Elenin passes between the Sun and Earth, there's a chance its dust tail might "light up" (via forward-scattered light) due to the large Sun-comet-Earth angle and put on a really good show. The last interloper to do this, Comet McNaught, dazzled southern skygazers in January 2007.
I'll update this story once the calculated orbit settles down, so please check back for the latest details.

Source

So this coming September hopefully...... March 15???.. ..?? allowing..... I will be videoing the event through my Reflector and cloud permitting I will post it on here for you to see.

reply to post by DreamerOracle


Elenin has been covered extensively here.

I would post the info there...

Cheers seems I missed the thread.....Pitfalls of not checking threads everyday

reply to post by DreamerOracle


thanks D.O.

(may i call you D.O.?)

looking forward to pictures

reply to post by darrman

Yes what ever you find easier DreamerOracle is a name I use to describe the stranger attributes to my psychi.
DO is fine np...Lets hope I get the weather I have only been able to use it once so far damn weather.
Like I said in a previous post about UFO's on the moon....I didn't have a camera before to capture it now I have I don't even get to see the moon itself let alone any activity........We have a name for it in the UK....Sods Law

reply to post by DreamerOracle

I saw this last night. is this Elenin ? or ?
Being in NYC there isn't much to see in the sky but a couple of stars and the moon. there was a slight haze but this stood out like a sore thumb. it was in the southern skies.
With the naked eye it seemed far off and was pulsating and looked to have a tail. the moon was off in the west. in the video no tail is present.
www.youtube.com...
videoed 3-13-11,11pm est in NYC southern sky, filmed in regular video mode and infrared video mode. if anybody knows or saw it let me know.

reply to post by guitarist


Sirius would have been in the southeast, at about 20 degrees of altitude at that time. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky.

reply to post by nataylor

This was more south by south west, when i look out my window or if 'im in the yard ,Sirius is usually on my left which is towards the southeast, this was towards my right. first time i ever saw anything in that location at that time or any other time that bright. I thought it was odd thats why i videoed it . but then again i'm no astronomer. Thanks for the insight. after it clears up and if i see it again i'll check its location with a compass or GPS. Thanks again.

reply to post by guitarist


Sorry, I mistyped. Sirius was in the southwest. At 11pm, it would have been at at an azimuth of about 222 degrees and an altitude of 21 degrees. Saturn would have been in the southeast (118 degrees azimuth and 24 degrees altitude), but it's not as bright as Sirius.

reply to post by nataylor


Thanks