RASC Hamilton Comet C/2-12 S1 (ISON) spotted 20 Nov 2013

[Colin Haig]

Very nice David!
I was out this morning at about 4:30ET near 
Milton, and grabbed a number of photos of both C/2013 R1 Lovejoy and ISON.
For me visually, Lovejoy seemed about 0.5 to 1.0 
mag brighter than ISON, with a larger central 
area around the nucleus. I think its partly due 
to darker background at the zenith.
Attached are 2 close-up pix, taken w 400mm f5.6 on Canon 5D MKII.
Lovejoy shot at 3.2s, ISO25600, and ISON at 3.2s 
ISO6400. Sky was very bright for ISON by comparison.
Also, here's one shot over your heads, looking 
from the escarpment near Milton down over the 
lights of Burlington. Mercury and ISON.
Saturn was barely visible in binos, but lost in 
the sunrise for photos. I checked your photo, and its not there either.
Cheers
Colin


At 09:32 AM 20/11/2013, David Galbraith wrote:
>Hi,
>
>A couple of us were able to spot Comet C/2012 S1 
>(ISON) this morning from the Burlington Waterfront
>
>The comet appeared as a slightly fuzzy star of 
>about 4th magnitude, between the star Spica and 
>the planet Mercury. The best views were a little 
>around 6 AM. We were able to see the comet in 
>binoculars and perhaps with the unaided eye ­ it 
>was iffy though, and the sky lightened up pretty 
>quickly after 6. I was able to get a few 
>wide-angle photographs that captured the comet, 
>with surrounding stars for reference. I tried 
>finding it with my little 5" telescope on an 
>unguided EQ4 mount and didn’t have any luck (I 
>was getting frozen by then). The best of the 
>photos suggest a wisp of a tail, not visible “live” for us.
>
>The comet will get harder to spot in the next 
>days, as it gets closer to the sun (and only, of 
>course, if the weather cooperates. Right now the 
>forecast isn’t promising). It swings around the 
>sun at its closest approach (perihelion) on 28 
>November. If it stays bright (or gets brighter) 
>there may be some changes to see it in December 
>and January as it heads back out into the depths of the solar system.
>
>Cheers,
>
>- David Galbraith
>
>Attachment: Wide-angle photograph taken with a 
>tripod-mounted dSLR at 6:18 AM, 20 Nov 2013. Two 
>stars and the planet Mercury are marked, as is 
>the comet. ISO 800, 2.5 second exposure, 42mm 
>focal length.
>
>_______________________________________________
>astronomers mailing list
>astronomers at hamiltonrasc.ca
>http://hamiltonrasc.ca/mailman/listinfo/astronomers_hamiltonrasc.ca
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: HaigISON0.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 100134 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://hamiltonrasc.ca/pipermail/astronomers_hamiltonrasc.ca/attachments/20131120/17bfddec/attachment-0002.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: HaigLovejoy.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 188287 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://hamiltonrasc.ca/pipermail/astronomers_hamiltonrasc.ca/attachments/20131120/17bfddec/attachment-0004.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: HaigISONmilton.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 147508 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://hamiltonrasc.ca/pipermail/astronomers_hamiltonrasc.ca/attachments/20131120/17bfddec/attachment-0005.jpg>