blurry (Toronto)

This might make you laugh...

I pulled out my cheapo binoculars. Headed over to the tennis courts of the Western Tech high school. Aimed up, essentially straight up, and picked a target to focus on. Used the Bushnell Quick Focus rocker bar to get the left eyepiece focused. Then dialed in the right eyepiece barrel. Still fuzzy. Tried again, rocking in the main focus, then adjusted the right barrel. Still off a bit. Crappy old binos! OK. Let's try something not straight up in the sky, give my neck a break (no pun intended). Found a nice bright star, focused, aligned, ah, that looks better. Reacquired initial target. Damn, still fuzzy...

When it dawned on me...

That large pale yellow fuzzy blob with the bright centre which I can't seem to focus on... IS THE COMET!

So, um, yeah, I guess I saw Comet 17P/Holmes tonight...

location: High Park, Toronto
time: 9:35 PM EDT
binos: Bushnell Ensign 7x50
magnitude estimate: between 1 and 3

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Noted a few stars of the Alpha Persei open cluster (Melotte 20) just above...

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Mars was above the trees...