Report:20030207 Ante Perkovic

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C/2002 V1 NEAT

Reference	(hr) Komet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) u dvogledu (Komet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) u dvogledu)
Constellations	Perseus, Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Lacerta, Monoceros, Lepus
Observer(s)	Ante Perković
Date	Feb 07 2003
Time	17.30h-19.00h
Location	Kaštelet Bay, Split, Croatia
Limiting magnitude	5.5
Sky brightness
Seeing
Transparency
Instruments	12x45 binoculars 10x50 binoculars
Power	10x, 12x
Filters
Notes

Legend:
Example	seen
Example	not seen
Example	possibly seen
Example	stellar

Contents 1 Comet C/2002 V1 NEAT at dusk 2 Open clusters in Persei, Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis 3 Monoceros and Lepus 4 Farewell to C/2002 V1 NEAT 5 References

[edit] Comet C/2002 V1 NEAT at dusk

We first saw C/2002 V1 (NEAT) (comet in Pegasus) at 17.55h, while the Sun was 8° below horizon, and NEAT was at altitude of 21°. Coma was still very small, but obviously non-stellar. The tail was not yet visible.

At 18.30h, while the Sun was at -14°, and comet at +17°, we managed to see 0.5° long tail.

[edit] Open clusters in Persei, Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis

The sky was very good, despite street lights that were recently installed on this beach for god knows what reason, and I managed to see a few DSOs.

NGC 869 ("h Persei", open cluster in Perseus, m=5.3,  29 ') +
NGC 884 ("Chi Persei", open cluster in Perseus, m=6.1,  29 ') =
Double Cluster ^{Missing infobox}

Stock 2 (open cluster in Cassiopeia, m=4.4,  60 ')

Stock 23 (open cluster in Camelopardalis, m=,  18 ')

M 103 (open cluster in Cassiopeia, m=7.4,  6 ')

NGC 1528 (open cluster in Perseus, m=6.4,  23 '):
I accidentally found it, and it took me a while to see where I was aiming.

Just wandering around and trying to recognize stuff is my favorite way of observing the sky, and I do it every time the sky is dark enough. I always try to recognize an object without removing the binoculars and checking which constellation I'm looking at. The most exciting moments are when I run into Double Cluster or Alpha Persei Moving Cluster, and for a brief moment, the idea that I discovered something new crosses my mind. Eventually, I'll probably become more rational, and stop imagining unreal scenarios, but until that happens, I will enjoy moments like this.

[edit] Monoceros and Lepus

After wandering around Cassiopeia, Perseus and Cepheus (I visited so-called "Perkovic 1" asterism!!, HD 214310 Group (asterism in Lacerta, m=,  3.5 'x0.2 ') :), I turned my binos toward Monoceros.

NGC 2301 (open cluster in Monoceros, m=6,  12 ') is clearly visible (I visit it quite often lately).

M 79 (globular cluster in Lepus, m=7.7,  8.7 '): This is the first time I saw M 79 with binoculars. Not to bad for suburban location!

[edit] Farewell to C/2002 V1 NEAT

At 18.50, I decided to take a farewell look (for tonight, and possible forever) at C/2002 V1 (NEAT) . The sun was almost 18° below the horizon, and comet had been descended to an altitude of 13°. I was shocked to see its tail stretching over half a FOV of my binoculars (over 2.5°!). I tried to estimate its magnitude ba defocussing the binoculars. It's brightness was between that of Xi Pegasi (4.2^m) and Rho Pegasi (4.9^m), but more like Xi, so I's about 4.6^m. Considering the fact that those stars were at 16° of altitude, and comet was at 13°, the real magnitude was probably few tenths of magnitude brighter.

While observing the comet, I notices an interesting optical phenomena. The tail is best seen first second or 2 after seeing the comet. After that, I can't get image that good even if I use averted vision.

I strongly suggest to anyone to see this comet ASAP, because in a day or two, it might be too late. Considering its orbit period of a few thousand years, this is obviously your last chance to see it. Since this comet had plain catalog designation, unlike C/2002 X5 (Kudo-Fujikawa) ^[1], I expected it to be much dimmer than the latter, but I was wrong.

[edit] References