Here Comes Comet Catalina – A Viewing Guide
A new comet graces the morning sky! New for northern observers anyway. After parading around this summer for skywatchers down under, Comet Catalina passed perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on Nov. 15th and emerged into the glow of dawn for observers in both hemispheres. I tried to see it this morning but was outdone by a bright sky. Right now, the comet glows at magnitude +7, normally an easy catch were it not for twilight glow.
That will change soon. Not only is the comet tracking north up and away from the eastern horizon, but the seasonal drift of the stars will “lift” it and the constellation Virgo upward into a darker sky at a rate of about 1° per day for the next couple weeks. Seeing Catalina right now requires at least 7×50 binoculars, clear, crisp skies and a view right down to the southeastern horizon at dawn.
Every night that passes, the comet gets easier to see. Many will start picking it up around Thanksgiving on the 26th. Watch out though! A bright moon enters the scene at that time and may make viewing its tail difficult. Watch for Catalina to gradually brighten in the coming weeks, topping out at magnitude +5 by the end of December and early January. Or brighter – maybe?? Once it cracks 6th magnitude, it will be possible to see it with the naked eye.
The map above shows Catalina’s travels and gradual acceleration as it climbs from eastern Virgo into Bootes. Like you, I enjoy looking at color maps, but for use at the telescope I’m a black-stars-on-white sky guy. Much easier to read and printing it out doesn’t soak you for ink. Here’s the B&W version.
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Catalina swings closest to Earth on Jan. 12th at a distance of 66.9 million miles (107.7 million km), but before that it will appear in two particularly beautiful settings. On Dec. 7 it pairs up with a slip of a lunar crescent and Venus at the start of morning twilight. Then on the first morning of the new year, the comet passes just 0.5° southwest of the brilliant star Arcturus high in the eastern sky. Rapidly moving north now, it cruises right over the handle of the Big Dipper on Jan. 15-17, when it becomes circumpolar or visible all night long from mid-northern latitudes. This map will take you all the way through January.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/wp-content/uploads/Web_Dec15_Catalina_BW.pdf
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more: http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2015/11/21/here-comes-comet-catalina-a-viewing-guide/
If you can find the Big Dipper, you can find Arcturus. "Arc to Arcturus, spike to Spica" is the well-worn mnemonic:
Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, and is very noticeably orange, so it pretty well can't be missed. Spica is one of the brightest stars in the sky, intensely blue-white, also hard to mistake for anything else.
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