Re: Comet Swan Observation Oct. 21, 2006

Stephen and Willie,

Observed the comet that night as well with 25X100 binoculars from a dark sky
site. Nice view in the binos. Green color was apparent. The thin tail was
not visible to me but the little bit of flaring was. I imaged it the same
night with a modified Canon Rebel and posted an image and also a 1 hour 40
minute video here:

http://ghonis2.ho8.com/102106cometswan.html

Gary Honis


"Stephen Paul" <smarshallpaul@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:PKadnZFKr9Qu6qbYnZ2dnUVZ_rSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I went out to look at comet Swan 7:30 local time with my grab and go 6" F5
newt using 24mm/68deg and 13mm/80deg eyepieces.

To put a magnitude limit on that area, I was able to see Mu-1 Boo (m4.3)
and Zeta-2 CrB (m4.6) naked eye without much problem. Dimmer than that,
there wasn't much in the way of naked eye stars in the area. I was thus
able with relative ease to aim the scope using the 6x30 finder at Mu-1
with both eyes open, and that put the comet easily within the 2.2 degree
field of the 24mm eyepiece.

I wasn't able to see a tail in the 24mm. A little bit of flaring was
visible with averted vision using the 13mm, but the brightest portion was
visible in both eyepieces as a round fuzzy with a bright dot in the
middle.

Definitely an easy comet for observers with a west/northwest LM of 5, and
it's positioned high enough to clear the treetops some 200 feet distant at
the time of this observation.

I'd be curious to know if others saw the tail, and what naked eye
magnitude stars were visible in the area at the time.

Stephen Paul
42.5N 71.5W
(GMT -5:00)



.

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