Observers with binoculars or small telescopes have a chance to view a moderately bright comet in the sky. Comet Garradd (C2009 P1) is putting on an attractive double act at the moment with the globular star cluster M15 in Pegasus.

The comet and M15 pictured by Nick Howes

The excellent photo here was taken by leading UK amateur astronomer Nick Howes, a regular contributor to Astronomy Now magazine, from Wiltshire, England, on the night of August 1-2. He used his TMB105 (4in) F6.2 refractor on an EQ6 mount, using an Atik 4000 mono CCD camera.

Nick told Skymania News: “The comet is well placed in the sky for medium to large telescopes at the moment. it is a slow moving comet so it will be in the skies for some time yet. It is also expected to brighten from its current 8th mag to possible 6th mag over the coming months.

“Visible with a small telescope or binoculars the comet has recently developed a quite distinctive, yet common in comets, fork in the tail. Discovered by Gordon Garradd (Siding Spring Observatory) in August 2009, this comet promises to be one of the best of 2011 for Northern Hemisphere observers.”

Jonathan Shanklin, director of the BAA and SPA comet sections, adds this note: “2009 P1 (Garradd) is brightening rather slowly but is now observable from much of the UK. Most of the recent increase in brightness has been due to its decreasing distance from the Earth.

“The comet is well condensed and an easy target with large binoculars or a telescope, even from suburban locations. Enif (ε Pegasi) is a good star-hopping start point, but don’t get confused with the nearby M15 which is much brighter than the comet.”

We’ll be posting a finder chart soon to help observers locate the comet. But don’t expect it to appear as bright as it appeared to Nick’s sensitive CCD camera.

Robin Scagell, of the UK’s Society for Popular Astronomy, observed the comet from near High Wycombe, England, in the early hours of July 4. He said: “Just got in from observing and photographing. Nick’s photo makes it look a lot brighter than it really is. I struggled to see it with an 80 mm refractor in a reasonable sky, and it was very tricky with 12 x 45 binoculars. I doubt that it could be seen from suburban locations.”