My first view of ISON!

I got up at 4.30am yesterday, cycled 7km in 2°C in an attempt to spot ISON before it disappears from view. As it is, it's very low in the morning sky, only 5ish degrees above the horizon. That, combined with the full moon blasting light all over the sky and the lights in the harbour, meant I had my work cut out for me! 

Cork Harbour - not ideal for astronomy.

I located Mars and Arcturus, and used them to find Spica, which was very low when I started. From there I attempted to hop to ISON using my binos. It was very difficult. I knew where it should be, but it just wasn't visible. Eventually, in the short period when it was high enough, and the sunrise hadn't brightened the sky too much, I managed to spot a faint green-ish blur. Success! 

After 2 and a half hours, I had very numb fingers and a whole heap of photos to edit. This is the result. 

YAY COMET!

I'll probably play with it a bit more and try to pull some more from it, but for now, given the conditions, I'm pleased. 

A Stellarium screenshot for comparison.

I stayed around to catch a gorgeous sunrise over the harbour. 

Sunrise.

Then I cycled home, filled a hot-water bottle and crawled into bed to attempt to regain feeling in my extremities.

All in all, a great morning.

PS. Bonus setting moon.

Earthshine!

I was heading home from work this evening when the moon caught my eye - it's a beautiful crescent at the moment, but what I was looking at was the earthshine. I dragged my scope out as soon as I got home and snapped a few quick pics...

(Ah, happy place!) 

(Mad earthshine!!) 

Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in pretty fast and it started to rain, so I had to head back in, but t'was nice while it lasted!