Comet Hartley 2 & Epsilon Aurigae - A Double treat From: k_sakthivel

[S. Anand]

Hello

This morning I saw the comet Hartley 2 around 4:30am. I used a 5" Mak
scope. The searching was not easy. But using epsilon Aurigae as a
reference star I could locate the exact position. The come looked very
faint. I could just note its presence. After the initial sighting it
was not difficult to locate.

Interestingly I was a bit doubtful about the star epsilon Aurigae as
the brightness was lesser than that of Eta and Zeta Aurigae. Infact
the brightness should normally be more (m3.0). A quick search revealed
that epsilon Aurigae is a variable star and its brightness varies from
3.0m to 3.8m. Its period is about 27 years and the minimum last for
about two years! This star is an eclipsing binary like Algol. see
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/80730537.html for details. Also
see the following site for the latest http://www.hposoft.com/Plots09/VBand.JPG

Sakthivel
Coimbatore Astronomy Club