About that comet....

Did you try to see Lulin?

I did. I got up at 4am on Wednesday and went outside in the 10F (-12C) weather. Not knowing if the sky was even clear, I didn't bother gearing up for the cold and went out in my bathrobe and pajamas. Imagine me saying this in falsetto: It was a mite nippy.

The sky had some clouds, and I couldn't find the comet at first. I retreated to warmer areas to consult some start charts, and then ventured out again.

Aha. There it was. I used binoculars to find it initially, but once I knew where it was, I could see it unaided, especially using "averted vision" Wikipedia refers to this as a "controversial" method, but that's bunk: It works. The idea is that the fovea--- the central focus of your eye--- is best for detail, but the surrounding area is actually more sensitive to dim light. You can't see detail with averted vision, but you can see very faint objects by looking just to the side of the thing you want to see. Every amateur astronomer knows this, Wikipedia be damned. 8-)

So there it was: a very faint, irregularly roundish glowing cloud. Time lapse photos taken with large-aperture instruments show the comet's greenish hue, but it was a dim misty gray or blue-grey to my eyes, just on the edge of visibility.

It was one of those things that's cool if you know what you're seeing, but pretty unimpressive otherwise. Oh well. If I'd let my eyes dark-adapt, I might have been able to see it with direct vision, but it was cold and 4AM, so I declared victory and went back to bed.

It was still fun to do, although if I'd been a brass monkey, I would have left parts behind on the frozen ground.

If you want to give it a shot, the maps here will help--- it will still be visible for a short while to come:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/35992534.html

I also found this site while digging up comet info. It has nothing to do with the comet, but contains some wonderful astronomical eye-candy:
http://www.astronomynorth.com/Replay2008.html

Enjoy!