C/2009 R1 (McNaught) Blazes Near M34

C/2009 R1 (McNaught) and Messier 34
By Juanchin

Object: C/2009 R1 McNaught
Date: June 09 2010
Time: 02:15 – 03:00 Local / 0715 – 1000 UT
Location: Wickenburg Arizona USA, at the foothills of Vulture Peak trailheads.
Equipment: Binoculars 12 x 60 Oberwerk and 25 x 100 Orion Giant view
Magnitude: ~7.5
Weather: Clear sky, calm winds, noctilucent clouds to the East but not in the way. high 70’s in this part of town!

Comments:
Greetings everyone! I sound like a stranger to this site but I haven’t had a chance to devote some time to one of my favorite doings. We’ll here you have it, I had read weeks prior that C/2009 R1 McNaught was going to become a visible comet to the unaided eye. Since that’s all it takes to get me excited, I decided to give it a try and start chasing this bad boy. I didn’t want to loose the opportunity like I did with the McNaught of 2007. (remember that one?)

Starting and staring visually, I couldn’t detect the comet when it drifted into view above the mountainous horizon.At about 15 to 20 degrees from the horizon, using the 12 x 60’s I readily spotted and would say that it sported a magnitude of 7.5 or so. Sort of hard to see at that brightness and altitude without optical aid. I was able to frame the comet with the star cluster M34 in the 5 degree FOV given by the binoculars. A fuzzy ball with no trace of a tail but that would change. I mounted the 25 x 100’s and like my kids would say nowadays- O.M.G !!! (Oh My God!)

I still had that wide vista that included both the comet and the star cluster, though a little tight in the view. Something that I have a hard time to detect is the aqua bluish glow given off by comets but here it was, pale but noticeable. With a little averted vision and the trick of swaying the parallelogram mount slightly, the ionic tail was unequivocally present. I was able to perceive it as being maybe about 1 degree long and stretching outward to a Northeasterly direction.

I decided to include a set of aligned stars outside the FOV to show how far I was able to detect the tail, it probably stretched longer. The Moon!, Oh that slice of cheese can sure ruin a good dark nite. I had to wrap everything up after the waning crescent ruined the view. The following days should prove to get better for observing but this was my only chance for me. Hopefully I will see future sketches posted here on ASOD to see what you all have to show us from this comet.

Juanchin