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This is my second day of observing Comet Pojmanski and it’s February 26, 2006. If you haven’t read my first post yet, then feel free to read it here.

I decided to go out at around 4:30am to the same spot where I observed Comet Pojmanski yesterday. This time, there was no moon yet but it was due to rise in a few minutes. I quickly scanned the sky and easily spotted Pojmanski. It was about 7 to 8 degrees below Venus but this time it was slightly to the left of our “Morning Star.” Though the sky was already darker, there was still this problem with the lights coming from a Seventh Day Adventist Church nearby so I decided to look for a new location and try to find out if the Comet is visible to the naked eye. After about 10 minutes of walk, I found a nice dark spot where there was not much light to spoil my viewing. Also, there was this coconut tree which proved useful to block the glare of Venus. I checked again with my 10×50 binoculars to see if I can see some better detail and too my satisfaction, I did.

Naked Eye Visible

This time, the tail looks much better that I no longer needed to use averted vision to spot it though it still appears to be of the same length as yesterday. I took off my binocs and checked out if I could see Comet Pojmanski with my naked (a.k.a. undressed, hehehe) eye. It required averted vision but it was visible. It’s kinda of a “now I see you, now I don’t” thing. It comes and it goes but it was there, visible to our plain old human eye. I think it would have been brighter if not for the slight haze plaguing my horizon. I still place it at around Magnitude +5.

Added Bonus…

I switched back to viewing with my 10×50 hoping to see more detail but did not. Still it looks like a fuzzy ball with a starlike nucleus and a tail to it’s 1:30 position. However, as an added bonus, a satellite passed by within the field of view. It came from the right side and was pretty fast so I followed it as it moved almost parallel to the horizon in an East to NorthEast direction. After about a minute of following it I looked back at the Comet for a last round of viewing as the sky was already starting to get brighter. It was already about 5:15am (I don’t have a watch so I didn’t know the exact time).

I personally don’t think the comet will get any brighter than Magnitude +4.5 but it is still worth viewing. In fact, I look forward to observing it for a few more days - weather permitting.

Clear skies!

Related Links:

• My first observation of Comet Pojmanski
• Comet Pojmanski by Eric Africa
• Comet Pojmanski goes higher and higher
• See it Now: New Comet Brightens Rapidly @ Space.COM
• A Surprise Comet in the Dawn @ Sky and Telescope
• Astronomical League of the Philippines

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