Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Seeing comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner from Australia in September 2018
The location of the comet is marked with a red cross. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (90 minutes before sunrise).
21P Giacobini-Zinner is a nice little binocular comet currently putting on a nice display in the Northern Hemisphere. It is currently cruising across the milky way, with a nice backdrop of nebulae and clusters to enhance the view.
Sadly for us in Australia it is currently too low to the horizon to see. However, by the 15th the comet is high enough to see above the horizon. It will have faded from its peak, but will still be easily visible. At this time it is close to the open cluster M35.
Printable Black and white map with the binolcar view of Comet 21P as seen from Adelaide at astronomical twilight (4:55 am, 90 minutes before sunrise). The large circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Note this is chart is in the same orientation with respect to the spotter chart above. Click to embiggen and print.
In binoculars the comet looks like a fuzzy dot. The tail is probably only realy visible in telescopes and photographs, and there is a green tint visible on colour images.
The comet is travelling against the backdrop of the milky way, and by the end of the month is within binocular distance of the cone nebula.
The comet is travelling against the backdrop of the milky way, and by the end of the month is within binocular distance of the cone nebula.
The MPC one line ephemeris is:
0021P 2018 09 10.2745 1.012906 0.710470 172.8514 195.3951 31.9980 20180323 9.0 6.0 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
Ephemeris of Comet 21P as seen from Adelaide (Pretty much the same for latitudes from Melbourne to Brisbane).
Date Mag Rise Ast Twi E Altitude Transit Set Ast Twi B 12 Sep 2018 7.0 02:24:21 19:28:29 -26° 27' 36" 06:49:42 11:17:40 04:56:23 13 Sep 2018 7.1 02:17:26 19:29:13 -25° 40' 38" 06:49:41 11:24:29 04:54:56 14 Sep 2018 7.1 02:10:41 19:29:58 -24° 50' 41" 06:49:31 11:30:52 04:53:29 15 Sep 2018 7.1 02:04:04 19:30:43 -23° 57' 56" 06:49:13 11:36:49 04:52:02 16 Sep 2018 7.1 01:57:35 19:31:29 -23° 02' 39" 06:48:47 11:42:23 04:50:34 17 Sep 2018 7.1 01:51:12 19:32:15 -22° 05' 01" 06:48:13 11:47:35 04:49:05 18 Sep 2018 7.1 01:44:55 19:33:02 -21° 05' 18" 06:47:32 11:52:27 04:47:36 19 Sep 2018 7.2 01:38:43 19:33:49 -20° 03' 43" 06:46:44 11:57:00 04:46:06 20 Sep 2018 7.2 01:32:37 19:34:37 -19° 00' 29" 06:45:49 12:01:15 04:44:36 21 Sep 2018 7.2 01:26:35 19:35:25 -17° 55' 50" 06:44:49 12:05:14 04:43:06
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:46 am 
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Hallo Ian, thank you for the picture of 21P. I 'm looking for this comet in this minutes here in Germany. Time here is 4:10 am. My Cousins life in Coromandell Valley and Aldgate and I hope, I can come again in January 19 in your wonderful country. All the best Thomas
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