Asteroid and Comet

I finally managed to observe asteroid (12) Victoria at mag 10.2 last night, 4 days before opposition, so completing a challenge to observe the first 20 discovered asteroids, from Ceres in 1801 to Massalia in 1852. By comparison, over 7000 asteroids have been discovered this year alone...

Also, Comet Macholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto is maintaining its brightness as it travels through Virgo in the morning sky. I have it at brighter than mag 8, which is a magnitude or more brighter than many of the estimates I've seen elsewhere, perhaps a tribute to Irish rural skies. Below is a DSLR image which gives an idea of how it looks through 20 x 80 binos. Perihelion is two weeks today.



Finbarr.

Nice capture Fermidox, you had to deal with twilight or a strong moon as well, it's not easy observing comets, and that would be considered a relatively bright one

Keith.