2020-07-08, 06:20 PM (This post was last modified: 2020-07-08, 06:28 PM by theskyhound.)
Hi,
In the first ephemeris, you are sampling the comet every night at midnight. It is below the horizon until later in the month. This is the main problem. Enable the Alt/Az columns to see the altitude.
You also have a different telescope selected, which explains the differences between ST3 and ST4.
Solution: you aren't using the right ephemeris. Use the Nightly Observing Ephemeris (which I think may be the best thing I ever did). This will automatically determine the best time to observe each night, and the data will be for that time. Nobody ever talks about this feature but me, but how useful is that?
I'm running ST4v (4.0h) with the Current Comets updated 5 Jul 2020. On the NP both C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) are listed as 'Undetectable' for 9 Jul 2020 at 40°N in the 13" scope. In the OI's Visual Difficulty tab C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is reported as 'Undetectable' in every instrument (up to a 32") except a Takahashi TOA-150 and a Celestron RASA 11" where it's 'Obvious'. There does seem to be something going wrong somewhere. I just started ST4v this morning with no issues. I did notice the report of the comets as 'Undetectable', but wasn't going to report it until I saw Blake's post.
I'm running ST4v (4.0h) with the Current Comets updated 5 Jul 2020. On the NP both C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) are listed as 'Undetectable' for 9 Jul 2020 at 40°N in the 13" scope. In the OI's Visual Difficulty tab C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is reported as 'Undetectable' in every instrument (up to a 32") except a Takahashi TOA-150 and a Celestron RASA 11" where it's 'Obvious'. There does seem to be something going wrong somewhere. I just started ST4v this morning with no issues. I did notice the report of the comets as 'Undetectable', but wasn't going to report it until I saw Blake's post.
I didn't try the ephemeris for either object.
Phil S.
I explained Blake's issue as the result of it being the wrong kind of ephemeris. I am not aware of any other problems with this comet... It would really help to know that have the latest comet data. What magnitude is it? Coma diameter? A screen shot of where it says it is undetectable would also be very helpful.
2020-07-10, 03:22 PM (This post was last modified: 2020-07-10, 03:29 PM by PMSchu.)
In my case it occurs right in the Nightly Planner (NP). Also in the Object Info's Visual Difficulty tab.
Phil S.
Just started ST4v (4.0h) this morning. The NP still says C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is 'undetectable', but for 10 Jul 2020 C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) is 'Easy'. If I change the date to 9 Jul 2020, both comets are listed as 'Undetectable'.
There is indeed a problem with F3 in the Nightly Planner as shown in the attachment. For some reason it only thinks it is visible for about a minute in the evening sky and therefore becomer not visible. The Ephemeris gives the correct best time I think. The program seems confused now it has gone circumpolar.
Yes Owen, my NP view is similar to yours for 10 Jul 2020. What happens if you change the date to 9 Jul 2020? What do you see in the Visual difficulty tab of the OI for F3? I saw mostly 'Undetectable' for 9 Jul 2020 even for a 32" scope. I'm at 40°N latitude.