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Reports from Geisei Observatory <June 30, 2008>


Photograph of C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

    Over the night of June 29 to June 30 the sky miraculously cleared up in spite of being in the middle of the rainy season. With the annual Tanabata Star Festival drawing near, the Milky Way was beautiful. It is said that the weather at Kochi on June 30 is jinxed to be always overcast or rainy every year. But this jinx seemed to be lifted this year.
@There is no bright comet visible at the moment, but C/2008 J1 (Boattini) and C/2007 N3 (Lulin) are relatively bright and visually observable at 10th magnitude.
    I showed you C/2008 J1 in my previous report and this time will show you C/2007 N3. This comet is low in the eastern sky at the dawn and has brightened far more than predicted. It is 10.5 magnitude visually. I anticipate interesting changes in the future. The exposure was 13 minutes and the telescope automatically tracked the comet's motion. A short, faint tail is visible.


@C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
13-minute exposure from 1:10 on June 30, 2008 J.S.T.
70cm f/6 reflector, TMY 400 film
Copyright (C) 2008 Geisei Observatory


Copyright (C) 2008 Tsutomu Seki.