Comet Catalina Is Here

Credit: Ian Sharp - see APOD Aug. 18, 2015

Comet Catalina has just arrived in the northern sky. Until recently it was only visible from the southern hemisphere. (The above image was taken from Australia.) It rises in the east in the morning just before the sun rises right now.

I went out at 5:00 this morning to view it for the first time. It was freezing out there! I mean that literally: it was 32° F. I looked at the eastern horizon and the position where I knew the comet would be. I had little hope of seeing it. It was only 13° above the horizon, a bad place to observe any object. The sky was washed out and grey. I tried anyway... and I saw it! It was a dim and small fuzz ball. I noted the stars around it in my eyepiece (I was using my 15mm EP in my 90mm refractor, so 44x magnification) and verified that I was indeed looking at the comet.

This is going to be a cool comet to view with a small telescope or binoculars. Wait a couple of weeks and it will be in a much better position. It gets higher every morning.

Here is where it was this morning from my backyard:

You can read more about this comet here:

It’s Finally Here! Comet Catalina Greets Dawn Skywatchers

Comet Catalina Sails Into Northern Skies

Using the JPL ephemeris generator I put together some placemarks showing Catalinas position in December (in one week increments).

Comet Catalina.kmz (1.03 KB)

It should be in a tight group with Venus and the moon tomorrow morning (Dec. 8). Thanks for the notification.

Dec 7, 2015 16:47:53 GMT Hill said:

It should be in a tight group with Venus and the moon tomorrow morning (Dec. 8). Thanks for the notification.

Actually, that was this morning. I missed it.