by Joe Stieber » Fri Sep 09, 2011 6:02 pm
The APOD text refers to the time of the image vaguely as "last weekend," but typical of a comet, C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is moving somewhat quickly with respect to the background stars, so it's in a noticeably different position every night (in a telescope, the motion can be detected in less than an hour). I was observing the comet last weekend and this nice view is familiar. It looks like the picture was taken on Friday evening, September 2, 2011, probably around 10:00 pm PDT (or 05:00 UT on September 3).
The APOD text refers to the time of the image vaguely as "last weekend," but typical of a comet, C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is moving somewhat quickly with respect to the background stars, so it's in a noticeably different position every night (in a telescope, the motion can be detected in less than an hour). I was observing the comet last weekend and this nice view is familiar. It looks like the picture was taken on Friday evening, September 2, 2011, probably around 10:00 pm PDT (or 05:00 UT on September 3).