COMET IWAMOTO

Location:  Front deck, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  February 10, 2019 1945-2230 hrs

Weather:  Gusty winds at times calm, back to breezy, -10C with reported windchill of -17C.  Humidity at 50%.  Bitter cold.  Clear.  Crescent Moon bright enough to put shadows down.

Equipment:  Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with 30 mm 2" eyepiece, motorized mount, Canon Rebel using telescope at prime focus.  Images processed on Photoshop.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Objective:  To observe Moon-Uranus-Mars Conjunction and attempt to view and image Comet C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto which was reported to be moving through Leo at 66 km/sec, relative to Earth.

Report:

• M31 observed and imaged.  Very bright in the eyepiece.  Note the dust lanes in the M31 image.

• M33 observed and imaged for the first time.  Spiral arms didnt show up in the eyepiece, but have in the image.

• Mars and the Moon observed and imaged.  Moon was bright enough to cast shadows on the ground.  Could not find Uranus.

• M42 observed
• Comet didn't get high enough to view and image, in the East, till after 2200 hrs.  Found Comet Iwamoto directly below galaxy M95, in Leo, almost right on the ecliptic.  Very faint, fainter than M33. 

30 sec exposure

60 sec exposure

• M44 observed. Very bright naked eye cluster of stars high up, to the south.
• One shooting star was seen, and no satellites seen.