Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Comet spotting with East Village resident Felton Davis



You can often find East Village resident Felton Davis stargazing on Second Avenue and East Third Street. However, he had to travel down to Battery Park last Wednesday to see the comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS.

He shared some photos and his story with us.

"It was a cold night, with a strong wind coming down over the Hudson, that made long-exposure photos very difficult. Comet Panstarrs 2011 last appeared about 100 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs. As it came around the sun last week, it was visible first in Buenos Aires and New Zealand, but took its time arriving in the northern hemisphere."



"As an amateur photographer, I have to confess that I was not able to get everything into one good photo. I could take a picture of the sunset with the Statue of Liberty on the left, and the crescent moon in the center. I could take a pretty good close-up of the moon. And of course every time the seagulls swooped over, I thought they must have sighted it. After all, birds live in the sky, and so must know whenever something unusual is about to appear!"

The comet is stil not visible here...





The comet is above the clouds... (That is Felton using the arrow!)



And at last.

"The comet finally appeared below the moon, with a tail extending up and slightly to the left. Only timed exposures of at least three seconds revealed the tail. It will rise higher in the days to come, but also grow fainter as it recedes from us on its long journey to the edge of the solar system."

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4 comments:

  1. DrBOPMarch 19, 2013 at 12:17 PM

    Thank-you Felton for the excellent work. ALWAYS a mind-blower to think of ALL the activity going on in our solar system, unobserved by the naked eye. And even with all of our technological advances, we can still be surprised like we were a couple of weeks ago by "new" objects appearing "out of nowhere."
    And thanks to the Grievastrator for following the Arrow Sharing Protocol (ASP) of 2012. It is only by ALL of us co-operating that we may see Arrow Peace in our time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 19, 2013 at 12:38 PM

    so awesome! thanks for sharing these great photos. I got a chance to check out the moon through his scope a few months ago at 3rd and 2nd and it was gorgeous. Keep up the good work!:D

    ReplyDelete
  3. pinheadMarch 19, 2013 at 1:31 PM

    Wow, thanks for sharing, Felton! I'm surprised that it was visible from the city, and amazed that you were able to find it in the sky!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mark Hand The CatchmanMarch 19, 2013 at 3:03 PM

    Are they opening a 7-11 on the comet too?

    ReplyDelete

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