C/2009 P1 Garradd

[Christopher K.]

Chris Peet still has Garradd at 10.7, but Gary Kronk says about 9.3, so here goes...

It looks like, according to the finder chart, Garradd is about half-a-degree or so (if that) to the south of HIP113433. Tomorrow morning that area of the sky is 30° off the horizon at 3:00am and civil twilight is at 5:34am. By the morning of 29 or 30 June the comet should be three or four degrees to the "upper left" (looking at map) of Eta Aquarii. In early July Garrard will be in Pegasus.

There hasn't been a magnitude estimate sent to Harvard since 23 April, when D. Bodewits of the University of Maryland used Swift to estimate 12.6.

Gary Kronk predicts Garradd to reach magnitude 7 in December.

Gary Kronk's June finder chart:
http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf

[Christopher K.]

The area of Pegasus in which Garrard can be found right now (about five degrees or so from the Aquarius border) will be accessible to most Baton Rougeans from 11:15pm tonight on through twilight. However, the forecast calls for lousy stargazing weather through Wednesday night. Also, it may have dimmed to mag 9.8 by now, extrapolating Gary Kronk's prediction. Chris Peet has it at 9.1.

[Christopher K.]

Well...

Astronomy is reporting Garradd is about mag 7.0 and will brighten in the coming months, to possibly unaided-eye visibility. According to Roen Kelly's finder chart, it will pass the cluster M71 on the 26th. On that night in Baton Rouge M71 will be 76° overhead at 11pm. That might make a nice picture.

More information:
http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observ ... AUG07.aspx

[Christopher K.]

Yet another, discrepant declaration of magnitude for Garradd--this time from the good gentlemen at APOD. In the caption for Gregg Ruppel's image showing the comet near M15, a value of 9 is used. The image itself is nice; the stacking was done with Maxim DL.

Garradd should be passing by M71 in another two weeks.

6 August 2011 APOD:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110806.html

[Christopher K.]

The lastest estimate sent to the Minor Planet Center was 7.3 from Belgium. The viewer used 20x50s and made the estimate Friday night at ~10:50pm local standard time. Other Friday estimates to Harvard are from Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and China; they all are brighter than 8.0.

Chris Peet still lists a value of 8.2. However, using his general notes I’m assuming a 7.7 magnitude estimate from Gary Kronk; Kronk is also stating Garradd will comes its closest to the Earth next March. Astronomy just calls it a seventh-magnitude object (assume 7.5). Although there are a number of submitted images of Garradd at Sky & Telescope, the staff doesn’t mention the comet.

Garradd will spend the rest of the month in Sagitta. Here are the 9pm CDT coordinates for the next few nights…
Tue, 23 Aug: Alt 60° / Az 106° (1°30’ from Eta Saggitae)
Wed, 24 Aug: Alt 62° / Az 108° (1° from Gamma Saggitae)
Thu, 25 Aug: Alt 63° / Az 109° (0°45’ from Gamma Saggitae)
Fri, 26 Aug: Alt 65° / Az 111° (less than 0°30’ from M71)
Sat, 27 Aug: Alt 67° / Az 114° (less than 0°15’ from Zeta Saggitae)
Sun, 28 Aug: Alt 68° / Az 116° (1° from Delta Saggitae)
Mon, 29 Aug: Alt 70° / Az 119° (very close to the Vulpecula border)

Finder Chart:
http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf

Garradd summary from Gary Kronk:
http://cometography.com/lcomets/2009p1.html

About Sagitta:
http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sge-t.html

[Christopher K.]

Gray Kronk places Garradd at least at 7.2, and Chris Peet has bumped up his value to 8.0. Amorim from Florianopolis, Brazil (who has been imaging the object since at least December) place Garradd at 7.2 on Saturday using 10x50s.

Garradd is interesting. Not only is it getting this bright simply because it's so large (at this time it's 1.6 AU away), but come the second week in November it will make a surprising ninety-degree turn in Hercules, which it entered around Saturday or Sunday.

Finder Charts:
http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/docume ... _Findr.pdf

[Christopher K.]

So, Garradd may not be unaided-eye but with the right equipment we may be able to glimpse it from these light-choked areas. An average I get (for what it's worth) from reliable estimates puts Garradd at magnitude 6.8 now and 6.4 the morning of 16 February.

Early this coming morning (after midnight) Garradd should cross into Draco from Hercules. The morning of Thursday the 23rd at around 4am--if not a couple of hours earlier--Garradd should be roughly between Aldhibain and Theta Draconis, which are four degrees apart.

The Minor Planet Center has yet to post magnitudes estimates for any date past 22 December.

More information:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/communit ... 44469.html
http://www.astronomy.com/News-Observing ... 10-19.aspx

[Christopher K.]

I attempted viewing of Garradd on the 24th (while Roslyn patiently listened to my fretting while she looked through different eyepieces at Saturn in her Astroscan). Although it took me a while, I finally nailed the exact spot Kronk's finder chart showed it was--roughly six to seven degrees northwest of Alpha Lyncis--and still didn't see it. It's been a time since I've manually comet-hunted, but I'm almost sure my failure was due to Garrard's diminishing brightness and Baton Rouge's light dome.

Garradd will be in Cancer by a week from tomorrow.

[Christopher K.]

Well, Garradd has dimmed past magnitude 10 and will no longer be visible from Baton Rouge in about three weeks. Goodbye then, Garradd--how frustrating you were.