Thanks, so video is best?

I posted the video from which that image is taken here.  Not a dramatic display, though.

Thanks!  I haven't found a comet thread on here, so I'll post this here....do you guys think this comet will be major? I have trouble believing this will be a great comet, because Mag 0 seems a bit dim for great comet status (some of whom have been brighter than the full moon Mag -12 and easily seen by daylight.)  Any idea if this is from the Kreutz sun grazer family, all of those great comets came from one immense comet that Aristotle saw and which later fragmented into the other great comets.

Plugging the current orbital elements into Stellarium, it predicts a magnitude of 0.77 with the comet 23 degrees from the Sun on September 28, 2024, and 0.34 magnitude at 14.5 degrees from the Sun on October 6th. The earlier view will probably be better -- being almost 10 degrees further from the Sun is far more important for visibility than being half of a magnitude brighter. (Though magnitude can vary unexpectedly for all sorts of reasons.)

The inclination of its orbit will give a better view for those in the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere it will be lower to the horizon and largely drowned out by twilight.

All in all, not bad, but take such early predictions with a pile of salt. 

Plugging the current orbital elements into Stellarium, it predicts a magnitude of 0.77 with the comet 23 degrees from the Sun on September 28, 2024, and 0.34 magnitude at 14.5 degrees from the Sun on October 6th. The earlier view will probably be better -- being almost 10 degrees further from the Sun is far more important for visibility than being half of a magnitude brighter. (Though magnitude can vary unexpectedly for all sorts of reasons.)

The inclination of its orbit will give a better view for those in the southern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere it will be lower to the horizon and largely drowned out by twilight.

All in all, not bad, but take such early predictions with a pile of salt. 

Oh no better for the Southern Hemisphere again?  Is that normally the case, because I remember this was true of McNaught too and that's why I didn't get to see it.  When will we see the next Hale-Bopp?  Wat when do you think it will best for the Northern Hemisphere (like for you and me to see it in WA and NY?)  And what would be its magnitude when that time happens?

My birthday is on September 15th so I was hoping this would be called Birthday Comet!  But not if I can't see it!  Lol.

No, it's not normally the case. Remember from the Oort Cloud discussion that long-period comets have an almost completely uniform distribution of inclinations. I didn't show it, but they also have a nearly uniform distribution of longitudes of ascending nodes, and arguments of perihelia:



(Well, there is a variation for arguments of perihelia, but it doesn't really matter.) Combined, these facts mean that there is no real preference for new comets to give a better show for the northern or southern hemisphere. It's random.

Case in point, Hale-Bopp was an excellent northern-hemisphere comet, and one of the best of the last century.

My birthday is on September 15th so I was hoping this would be called Birthday Comet!  But not if I can't see it!

You will probably be able to see it. It just probably won't be exceptional.

Thanks, Hale Bopp is always going to be my benchmark comet until something brighter comes along but I hope this one can be pretty good too.  I didn't have a camera back when Hale Bopp came around but I want to photograph this one.  I hope it isn't too difficult and any advice on focal length, focal ratio, shutter speed, ISO, etc., would be appreciated because I've no idea what settings to use lol.  I take it I should set my lens to focus at infinity....or would autofocus work well on the head of a comet?  If it's like a star probably not.

I would definitely either set focus to infinity or focus manually. Comets are too faint for autofocus. For other settings, just think like any other astrophotography: you want large aperture (low f/#) to gather light, moderate ISO, and the longest shutter speed you can manage before trailing becomes too strong.

Haven't been on the forum for quite some time, so this was a nice little heads up. Seems that more often than not the southern hemisphere misses out on majority of the good comets, and when we do get a good one, it's lost into the footnotes of history and not mentioned anywhere unless you search for it specifically.

So, hope it's a good one and finally something for us in Australia.

There was one fantastic comet (great) for us here in Aus's POV.  Comet McNaught in 2006 and as typical for us southern hemi people, no mention of it on mainstream news or such.  I happen to see it just before it's peak and all the way til it faded becasue my best friend's mum heard about it somewhere and told me about it. I said, nah, what comet?

I looked in the evening and Wow!  I was blow away, it was one of the best great comets for many decades and was comparable to comet West from what I heard.  It was enormous and took up a very large section of the sky. I didn't have any telescope back then, still don't (can lend my friend's one though, if I want). 

To the unaided eye it looked just like this pic I found on google. 

Everything else from then on, I can barely see with binoculars and need the telescope to take images of them. Unaided eye, I think the one at xmas the year prior I could just barely make out in my peripheral vision.

Nice to see you again, vlad! Comet McNaught was indeed spectacular and caused quite a stir in astronomy/astrophotography circles. I wish I could have seen it. In terms of overall brightness it seems comparable to Hale-Bopp in 1997, but McNaught's tail spread much farther across the sky. I'm actually surprised to hear it didn't make your mainstream media. You'd think it would be mentioned everywhere!

I would definitely either set focus to infinity or focus manually. Comets are too faint for autofocus. For other settings, just think like any other astrophotography: you want large aperture (low f/#) to gather light, moderate ISO, and the longest shutter speed you can manage before trailing becomes too strong.

and expose for the head?   I was reading about the Eclipse Comet, it was amazing that was one of two great comets in 1882 and its perihelion lined up perfectly for a total solar eclipse!

I mean, what were the chances?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_ecl ... y_17,_1882

Eclipse Comet of 1882

A party of observers gathered in Egypt to watch a solar eclipse in May 1882 were greatly surprised when they observed a bright streak near to the Sun once totality began. By a remarkable coincidence, the eclipse had coincided with the perihelion passage of a Kreutz comet. The comet would otherwise have gone unnoticed—its sighting during the eclipse was the only observation of it. Photographs of the eclipse revealed that the comet had moved noticeably during the 1m50s eclipse, as would be expected for a comet racing past the Sun at almost 500 km/s. The comet is sometimes referred to as Tewfik, after Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt at the time.^[4]

The Great Comet of 1882 was the brightest comet in recorded history and happened later that year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet_of_1882

Great Comet of 1882
Main article: Great Comet of 1882


Photograph of the Great Comet of 1882, as seen from South Africa
The Great Comet of 1882 was discovered independently by many observers, as it was already easily visible to the naked eye when it appeared in early September 1882, just a few days before perihelion, at which it reached an apparent magnitude estimated to have been −17, by far the brightest recorded for any comet and exceeding the brightness of the full moon by a factor of 57.^[14] It grew rapidly brighter and was eventually so bright it was visible in the daytime for two days (16–17 September), even through light cloud.^[15]
After its perihelion passage, the comet remained bright for several weeks. During October, its nucleus was seen to fragment into first two and then four pieces. Some observers also reported seeing diffuse patches of light several degrees away from the nucleus. The rate of separation of the fragments of the nucleus was such that they will return about a century apart, between 670 and 960 years after the break-up.^[2]

Nice to see an actual photograph of this Great Comet!

Nice to see you again, vlad! Comet McNaught was indeed spectacular and caused quite a stir in astronomy/astrophotography circles. I wish I could have seen it. In terms of overall brightness it seems comparable to Hale-Bopp in 1997, but McNaught's tail spread much farther across the sky. I'm actually surprised to hear it didn't make your mainstream media. You'd think it would be mentioned everywhere!

Sometimes I wish the earth were flat so we could see everything the Southern Hemisphere can see
Maybe one day we'll be able to make it so with the proper geoengineering

It's been a severe solar storm over the past days, K-index peaking up to 8 and 9 and aurora visible far, far south.  Has anyone taken pictures from unusual areas?

Snow storm instead of solar storm here currently in Oslo, but we've had a decent share of aurora this winter anyway.

It's been a severe solar storm over the past days, K-index peaking up to 8 and 9 and aurora visible far, far south.  Has anyone taken pictures from unusual areas?

I was aware but couldn't see it with overcast skies and rain.   But there were amazing photos from all over the US, even some taken as far south as San Diego CA, and the Texas-Mexico border!  

Looking forward to more opportunities as we approach solar max.

It's been a severe solar storm over the past days, K-index peaking up to 8 and 9 and aurora visible far, far south.  Has anyone taken pictures from unusual areas?

I was aware but couldn't see it with overcast skies and rain.   But there were amazing photos from all over the US, even some taken as far south as San Diego CA, and the Texas-Mexico border!  

Looking forward to more opportunities as we approach solar max.

It's amazing this is happening now and when is solar max, Wat, is it close to the time of the solar eclipse next April?  It could be even more spectacular than normal!

I'm still waiting to see northern lights in NY, how are they visible in Mexico but not NY lol.

It's amazing this is happening now and when is solar max, Wat, is it close to the time of the solar eclipse next April?  It could be even more spectacular than normal!

Yes, the corona looks much different for eclipses near solar max than near solar minimum. There are more active regions, and more coronal streamers going off in multiple directions and from higher latitudes. You can expect the eclipse to look more similar to the image at right than the image at left.



As for when the solar max will be, there is little sense in trying to pin it down to a specific month, because maxima are often fairly broad and can span many months, or even have multiple peaks. The latest research I've seen suggests this max may be a little bit earlier than previously predicted, perhaps around the end of 2023. Even if that's the case, you can expect a high degree of solar activity throughout the rest of 2023 and 2024.