Jeremy Perez ,

Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona, USA

Jan. 9, 2009

I'm primarily a visual observer, so I usually sketch my observations. The attached image is a drawing of the comet based on my observation this morning (Jan 9, 2009 - 13:00 UT). I drove northeast of Flagstaff to Sunset Crater National Monument and arrived there shortly after 5 am with the moon blazing away and lighting up the snow-covered landscape. The head of Scorpius was rising, and Antares was flickering with a rusty light just over the tops of the cinder cones. While the sky was still bright with moonlight, I shot a few photos of the landscape, and then set up my 8 inch Dobsonian. The comet was a snap to find at low power (37.5X) and readily pierced the moon-washed star field as a round glow with a nicely condensed core. [extended report]