Comet C/2024 G3 Atlas Search (No Confirmed Sighting)

Location:  Saint John, NB

Date Time:  

• Jan 10, 12 & 13, 2025 approx. 0740-0800 hrs, just before sun-up, as Comet makes Sun approach.
• Jan 17, 2025 1735-1800hrs Comet in evening sky leaving Sun and leaving northern hemisphere for southern hemisphere.  

Weather:  

• Average for all first three days, which were mostly the same save a few clouds along the horizon.  Bitter cold, windy, mostly sunny, somewhat clear in the eastern sky, -7C.
• Jan 17- No wind, still but cold air, -4C, mostly clear, no clouds along horizon.  Haziness.

Equipment:  Binoculars 15x70, Canon Rebel T3.

Report: Overall, four days of observing, no sign of comet could be found either in images or by scanning horizon, where comet was reported to be.  

Comet perihelion was on Monday Jan 13th.  Three days before that on Friday morning I tried before sunup with binoculars.  No luck.  On Sunday morning it was clear and again no luck finding it with binoculars.  By Sunday evening the comet entered the Soho Lasco C3 field of view.  The comet stayed in this NASA camera field of view for three days as it passed close to the Sun.  At time of writing this it appears that comet has survived perihelion intact.

The weather cleared enough for one last attempt on Friday Jan 17th.  By this time, the comet was reported to be in the evening sky.  I went out again with binoculars and camera and searched with and imaged the sky, where I thought comet would be.  Comet did not show up in images or in binos field of view.  Curt and Ed(local amateur astronomers) both did not see the comet either.

Soho Lasco C3 image from perihelion.  Image from NASA Soho website.

My image facing west Friday Jan 17th, 2025 1751hrs from Saint John, NB.  Venus and Saturn in upper left.  Comet would have been very close to horizon, if it were visible. 

Moon/Venus Conjunction & Quadrantids

Location:  Lower westside for Conjunction & Dominion Park for Quadrantids, Saint John, NB, Canada

Date Time:  January 3, 2025 1835-1845hrs & 2232-2305hrs

Weather:  Windy, 25kph gusting winds, mostly cloudy, -2.8C, 81% humidity, wind-chill -9C according to local weather station. 

Equipment:  Canon Rebel with 75-300mm lens.  Images processed on PhotoShop 

Objective:  To view and image a close conjunction between a thin waxing crescent Moon and Venus with a reported separation of 1.4 degrees.  Ed reported seeing the conjunction through the clouds shortly after 1800hrs from his place.

Also, to Dominion Park to look for Quadrantids Meteor Shower that were supposed to peak on Jan 3rd in early morning hours.  On this am we were clouded out in SJ, so an evening observing was the only thing possible.

Report: 

Conjunction

• Fairly high at 1840hrs in the western sky, thankfully through a break in the mostly cloudy skies.  No Quadrantids observed.

Quadrantids Meteor Shower

• Ed and I went to Dominion Park and began observing the sky at 1032pm.  Ed reported seeing one Quadrantid at at around 10:35 PM, but I did not see it. I did not observe any meteors at the park or around Saint John either. In total, for myself about 45 minutes of observing without any sightings. Ed saw one. There were strong northerly winds all evening and it was very cold!