I just finished up with my nightlab. It was a beautiful night, very clear and no moon. While I had a break in the action from helping students, I set up one of our 8″ Celestron telescopes and trained it on Comet Lulin. Unfortunately the comet was situated within the haze over Charlottesville, but it was still readily visible through binoculars and the telescope.
David and I looked at it periodically over the hour and a half the telescope was out. We were surprised to see that the comet moved appreciably through the telescope’s field of view in the short time we were watching! Most of the students in lab as well as the constellation quiz students were able to take a glance at it. A finding chart from astrodrayer shows where the comet will be over the next couple weeks.
In addition, I took a quick peek at Saturn, which was very close by in the sky. The rings are very nearly edge on. I had never seen it from that angle before, so that was cool. Several of the moons were visible as well.
David and I may go up to McCormick Observatory tomorrow night and use a reticle to attempt to measure the proper motion of the Comet. Should be a fun little project, even if of little scientific use other than our own amusement.
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