There has been a lot of talk about the brightening of Comet Lemmon and I have had a lot of viewer questions about how people can view it. Since there were a lot of questions, I thought I would bring in an expert on the subject to discuss it. John Chumack, from Galactic Images, was kind enough to share some info with me, so I could share that info about Comet Lemmon with you.

John shared the following image with me that he captured on Friday, 10-17 with his smart telescope (Seestar 50). This telescope is about $400-500 and comes with a color camera built in. These smart telescopes are gaining in popularity with the amateur crowd because they are quite easy to use. The limiting factor is the small aperture, but they are great starters for those looking to capture images of the night sky without a lot of complexity.

In John's words...

"I love seeing the Comet's Green Coma, and Brown Dust tail, as well as the very long blue Ion Tail.

The little Seestar scope did a decent job, considering it (Comet Lemmon) was only a few degrees above the horizon, at the Twin Towers Metro Park, Fairborn/Enon, Ohio. The comet is shining at visual estimates ranging from 4.5 to 5.2 magnitude. Depending on how high off the horizon it is, the atmospheric extinction and transparency, high moisture content in the air or haze near the horizons, and light pollution are all affecting its human eye visibility for some especially near city light pollution."

That explains a bit about the image you see above, but how can you view it? Here is what John Chumack said...

"The Comet is moving into the evening sky over the next week, crossing Boötes constellation and should be visible just after sunset, but the comet sinks low to the west quickly starting at dusk. You may have 30 minutes to see it, before it sinks below the northwestern horizon. Remember you need a good low horizon and use Binoculars to find it first.

Comet Lemmon is closest to Earth on the 21st of October.  It is shining near 4^th magnitude now, even cell phone cameras can record it."

I hope you noted what John mentioned here. You don't need fancy or expensive equipment to capture it. Remember when we had the auroras last year and so many captured videos / pictures of it with their cell phones? You will want to turn your phone camera into the long exposure / night mode, so it will take longer exposure images. Night mode allows your camera to capture more light. Aim the camera in the area of the NW sky around dusk and shortly after, check the image, then zoom in as needed to focus on the comet. This can and does work to capture near visible objects like Comet Lemmon.

Most of us feel this one will be difficult to see with the naked eye in light polluted skies, so that may be a no go if you are hoping to see it shining in the night sky with the naked eye. However, if you have binoculars or even a simple cell phone, you shouldn't have an issue seeing this one. Remember, peak brightness is tonight, so take a moment tonight to try and view Comet Lemmon in the northwest sky within 30 minutes after dusk.