[TAC] Comet Bradfield from San Francisco

I attempted to observe Comet Bradfield from the middle of
urban San Francisco this morning. Not far from my house,
the street on which I live ends, with a view to the east over
Highway 101, the San Francisco Bay, and the light dome of
neighboring Oakland.  I prepared binocular finder charts
using SkyTools software, got out my 7x50 binoculars, and
set the alarm for 4 am.

The comet this morning is positioned nicely in Andromeda,
between two stars in Andromeda's "legs", not far from M31.

I was able to just barely detect the comet, but only with averted
vision and only momentarily.  It was visible only when the
binoculars jiggled in my hands.  It appeared only as an
elongated smudge.  No detail was observed.  I imagine this
comet probably looks nice to those with darker skies.

Limiting magnitude near the zenith was estimated to be 5.2,
using estimation chart 14 (Cygnus) at http://seds.org/billa/lm/
though I didn't wait for full dark adapation.

-- 
Michael Portuesi
San Francisco, CA
mailto:portuesi@jotabout.com