Comet 8P/Tuttle
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We have another comet too have a look at, named 8P/Tuttle and you should be able to see this with binoculars easy enough, Tuttle has a magnitude of 5.9 right now, but I’m thinking it’s probably not quite visible with the naked eye.
Why don’t I know for sure? I have clouds as usual and am now hearing I could get 10 inches (25 cm) of snow by tomorrow night. HOWEVER if you live in the northeastern US, I have also heard Thursday our high temps are going to be about 5 F (-15 C) and will be colder than that Thursday night, this is getting a bit on the cold side, it also means it’s a good bet to be clear. While I might not get the scope running, I certainly will have the binoculars and probably my little ETX 70 out and have a look.
Comet 8P/Tuttle was discovered on January 9, 1790 by Pierre Mechain in Paris France, and was originally designated 8P/1790 A2. The orbit of the comet is quite eccentric as you can see by the image above and it makes the orbit every 13.6 years so the next time it will be in this position will be somewhere near August 10, 2021.To find Comet 8P/Tuttle look for the constellation Triangulum, it’s pointing right at it. I made a finders chart, the file size is 173 K so it’s a bit large, it will print off nicely though.
Have a look if you can, you have about another 10 days before it begins to fade. I have been living vicariously by looking at the outstanding images on Spaceweather.com, you should have a look.
Image: NASA
last night I was searching for 8P and like the rookie I am I was looking for long comets tail. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a new nebula near M33. But surprise turned to joy when I realized that my new Nebula was really an old comet. Lesson learned… before you look find out what you are looking for looks like!
Brian
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I am definitely no comet expert….but I think I may have seen this one. I was out walking my dog around 8:00 and maybe around 8:35ish EST I happened to look in the sky and I saw this thing go past with a green “tail” and a slight red glow. My first thought was firework (there was no sound)- but then the way it moved and the clearness of it suggested otherwise. As soon as I finished my walk I came in to try to look to see if possible it was a comet.
Do you think I possibly saw my first comet – the 8P/Tuttle?