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January 16, 2013
Amateur Astronomers Image Comet SMOD ISON
Some good news for a change.
The news here isn't that amateurs captured an image (or in this case two separate ones 25 minutes apart), it is the size of the instrument used.
Amateur astronomers Tom and Jennifer Polakis have imaged Comet ISON, currently magnitude 16.2 (that means don't bother looking for it yet) with just an 8" telescope. Any of you morons out there with a Skywatcher, C8 or Meade, with the right maps, camera, and tracking device, should now be able to "spot" it as well.
Don't expect a spectacular image when you click the link: it appears as a moving grey speck, as most comets this far out tend to do. But given its' potential, that little blob could be the start of something grand. (For clarity, ISON is coming November 2013 to January 2014, not to be confused with PANSTAARS coming mid-March)