Perhaps you noticed among the August info that tonight (Sat the 30th) the comet will be less than 1/2 degree from Mu Cephei (Herschels Garnet Star) at 10 PM EDT. The attached chart shows the approx location of the comet relative to the star at 9 and 11 PM EDT. As you can see, the comet moves about 1/4th degree in two hours. That is equal to 7.5 arc sec per minute, which means every two minutes it will have moved the separation of Mizar A and B, which further means in only a few minutes the motion will be noticeable against background stars. I listed 10 PM for the comet location because that was after moonset for me, but the comet is bright enough to be seen by around 9 PM EDT, so observing can begin then (east coast) of the motion, but the comet should also be observed after moonset to see the full extent of the coma. For those of you to the west, the comet will of course be a little farther away from the star when it gets dark enough to observe.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 14:57:21 +0000
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