Is there a comet near R Cam?

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Sat, 06/13/2015 - 06:00

I was estimating R Cam  a few minutes ago and saw a faint fuzzy  - about halfway between Alpha and Beta UMi.  Visible in binoculars.  I do not have a list of visible comets available.

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
I think you are right.

I looked up the path, and the position for the 12th is right where i saw it - just north of the halfway point between polaris and Beta UMi.

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Yup, William, that most

Yup, William, that most definitely was C/Lovejoy that you saw. I'm just a bit surprised, however, by your decription of the object as a "faint fuzzy" unless you were using the term as it generic form for covering any and all diffuse objects regardless of brightness. Comet Lovejoy is actually about magnitude +8.0 as seen with large binoculars currently, implying that its telescopic appearance should be almost as bright looking, i.e.rather considerable for a telescopic comet. Just what size telescope were you using?

J.Bortle   (BRJ)

 

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
"Faint fuzzy" is indeed the generic term :)

I spotted it in 15x70 binoculars to start with.  Since R Cam is a regular object on my list, I was baffled for a moment.   I turned a 6" refractor on it a few minutes later.  It turns out the transparency here was not so great last night.  I could not see the mag 12.6 comparison star next to Z UMi, which was actually in the same field as the comet.  So it was easily visible, but not spectacular.

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Lovejoy

 

I was too tired to reply last night, but tried to scan for Lovejoy with my 20 x 70's without success.  Normally I'd use my pair of 10 x 50's for such a task, but it is currently missing :(  I'll try again tonight.  The comet must be a few A. U. from the sun by now.  Could you see anything of the tail?