Tuesday morning’s clear skies (02.03.09) offered me possibly the last chance to observe Lulin as it begins it’s long journey back towards the outer solar system and beyond. I didn’t expect to see too much detail as the comet is now fading, but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to grab one last sketch of our cosmic visitor.
Lulin materialized as a spherical milky smudge against the jet sky, but I could not discern even the vaguest hint of the anti tail as I had done during my previous studies of the comet. The nucleus appeared dimmer and much fainter while the coma manifested itself as a hazy impression. Further opportunities to follow Lulin are now curbed by Moonlight up until around the middle of this month by which time the comet will have travelled into the constellation of Gemini and faded to 7th or 8th magnitude. From here up till the end of May Lulin will dwell in and around the stars Mebsuta, Tejat and Nu (ν) Geminorum, eventually disappearing in the glow of the setting Sun.
Of the three sketches that I have been lucky enough to make of Lulin, this one was certainly the hardest; I had to really work to accurately reproduce this observation. Initially I tried using a graphite palette and blending stumps to create the comet as I have done before, but I ran into problems creating the subtleties of the comet. Finally as a compromise, and unlike my last two sketches, I decided to use Photoshop to generate Lulin alongside the hand drawn star field. This way I could control the softness of the comet while keeping the definition of the stars.
It will be over a millennium before Lulin returns to the inner solar system, if indeed it ever does return, so I’m glad I’ve had this chance to observe and sketch this brief but amazing visitor to our skies.
Edit 14.09.09: After six months of procrastination I’ve finally made the effort to rework this sketch of comet Lulin. I’m now happy to present it here as a complete and consistent piece of work. I hope that you enjoy it.