CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 1811
Loc: Morganton, GA, USA
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I wanted to start a new post on Comet Swan based on this evening's observations. This thing is getting BRIGHT!!
Just a couple of nights ago, I was mentioning that I thought I could just barely catch the tail in my Saturn III's (39x100). Well tonight, the tail was completely obvious in my 18x50 Canon's, and provided a fine sight in the Saturn III's with the tail floating all the way out of the FOV. It was far brighter than when I last saw it just a couple of days ago.
And the comet now appears to be visible to the naked eye. I would estimate it has to be getting close to mag 5 to be this obvious. Yes, I have good 6 Mag skies, but the comet seemed to be noticeably brighter than any of the surrounding stars. Kappa Coronae Borealis is listed at mag 4.78 in Starry Nights which surprises me as I did not recollect any adjacent stars being obviously brighter. Unfortunately, that information came AFTER the comet ducked behind the trees, so I was not able to go back and study that.
It's a LOT brighter and bigger than M13 and it has a tight central core that contrasts readily with the diffuse gases surrounding it. It almost looks like your're looking at the actual core of the comet (it's an illusion of course as the core is actually only about 0.03 arc seconds), but there's definitely a very bright central spot.
I would be very interested in hearing other people's observations of this comet - this is DEFINITELY worth looking for - it's in an excellent position for observing in the early evening, especially as it heads towards M13 over the next couple of days.
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Phillip Creed
Idiot Seeking Village
Reged: 07/25/06
Posts: 1033
Loc: NE Ohio
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This comet is apparently in outburst. You apparently got the comet when it was just starting. I've seen reports of around 4-4.5 mag and a considerable increase in tail brightness the past 24 hours.
Clear Skies,
Phil
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"Why suffer from insanity when you can revel in it?"
Wilderness Center Astronomy Club member since 1995
ICQ Comet Observer Code: CRE01
*****
16" f/4.5 Truss Dobsonian (FOR SALE!!)
Orion 120mm ST Refractor
23mm Axiom LX
13mm Nagler Type 6
9mm Nagler Type 6
1.75X Siebert Barlow
*****
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dgs©
Postmaster
Reged: 03/29/04
Posts: 13903
Loc: West Monroe, Louisiana
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If it will remain in this 'outburst' phase for a couple more days... clouds are supposed to clear off by the weekend. 
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- david
8"Ø Newtonian on SVP, Moonlite CR2, Telrad
PST Oberwerk Ultra 15x70 Orion Ultraview 10×50
Hand-me-down Sears Refractor (Discoverer) 60mm×900mm
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world, remains and is immortal." --Albert Pike
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Bonco
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/17/06
Posts: 1980
Loc: Florida
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10/25/06
The Swan is a beautiful bino object even in my light polluted skies. I'm thinking about 5th magnitude, maybe brighter and its a large fuzz ball. Easy to find with my 7X35's. Better in my 15X70's, best in my hand held 20X80 LW bino's. Finally we have some transparent skies in Florida.
Bonco
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edwincjones
Post Laureate
Reged: 04/10/04
Posts: 4423
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I have a public star scheduled for this weekend-SWAN will be the star attraction.
edj
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n w arkansas
Binocular, Solar, General Amateur Astronomy
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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 1811
Loc: Morganton, GA, USA
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Yes, reports are now streaming in from all over about this sudden jump in 2 magnitudes. Apparently, I was watching it close to when it happened as at the beginning of the evening, the tail was just barely visible in my Saturn III's, but barely 20 minutes later, I was seeing it in my 18x50 Canon's. And I would estimate Swan's brightness to be around 4.2 to 4.4 based on the nearby star at 4.78. I originally mentioned 5 partly because I just couldn't believe it had brightened that much and I didn't know the magnitudes of the closeby stars.
We have cloudy skies here for the next couple of nights  but I'm not really complaining that much as seeing it during this huge outburst phase was reward enough! 
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1006
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Yeow, it's on steroids! Easy naked eye in mag5 sky, brighter than nearby tau Her, maybe 4.0. In 10x50, a 1.5-degree tail was obvious, twice that with averted vision and sweeping the bino. A bright center was visible in the bino, and in a telescope this became a very bright stellar point.
Ron
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camvan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/02/05
Posts: 2086
Loc: British Columbia
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I called my dad up and told him we have to go SWAN hunting. my mom got upset saying you're not allowed to hunt SWAN's. we played with that for a bit  when we saw it two weeks ago here, you could see a nubbin of a tail, but if it's getting as observable as you're saying now, I want to see it again! curse the sky and the clouds 
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Cameron
"Aperture can only be replaced by even more aperture. Dark transparent skies cannot be replaced by anything else." - Stathis Kafalis
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Rich N
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/22/04
Posts: 5312
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area, Calif...
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This evening was nice and clear so I gave Comet Swan a try and was surprised how much brighter it is than M13. Really neat! I was using my Swarovski 8.5x42 EL.
Rich
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Les
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/22/06
Posts: 666
Loc: Maryland
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Used my Canon 10x42L IS to view in my suburban light polluted skies. Limiting visual mag about 4 at zenith and about 2 at Swan's altitude! Unable to dark adapt because all my neighbors had porch lights on  . Easy to spot in binos with a magnitude approaching mag4 and a stellar core about a magnitude fainter. Slight hint of blue green coloration. No tail visible but a vague notion of some sky brightening at 1 o'clock position relative to coma and extending about 2 coma diameters.
Edited by Les (10/26/06 10:02 AM)
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Jay_Bird
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/04/06
Posts: 680
Loc: Nevada 36N 115W
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Thanks for starting this thread - Swan has brightened up a lot since a week ago!
And it needs all the brightness it can get from my neck of the woods - to find it I just follow the pillar of light up from the Luxor casino, at full dark that's a bit north of Hercules from my yard...
Kids enjoyed comparison with M-13 and obvious brightening since we glimpsed it last week. Hint of tail showed better in 10x50 & 7x35 than in small refractor, but hint of blue green color seen in scope.
Best, Jay
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'these things stand like stone - kindness in another's troubles, courage in your own' Gordon
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14686
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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As soon as the clouds clear out, hopefully this weekend, I am going "SWAN hunting" as well. Even if I have to make a trip out to a dark site to get a view of the western sky.
Thanks for the heads-up CES!
Clear dark skies...
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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devond
super member
Reged: 08/21/06
Posts: 122
Loc: Northern CA, USA
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FWIW - SWAN looked awesome last night in my relatively light polluted Sacramento suburb skies.
I couldn't swear to seeing a tail though there did seem to be a bit more brightness in the direction the tail should be. The central mass was quite distinct (or at least the bright glow immediately around it). I couldn't make it out naked-eye but once I put some clothes on and used darn near everything in my modest arsenal of glass it was really beautiful no matter what I viewed with.
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Clear skies,
-DevonD
Bincos: 7x35,10x25,11x56,15x50,15x70,25x100
Scopes: AT66, ST80, 90mm Apex Mak, 100mm Skyview, 8" C8
EPs: Hyps(5,8,21),Pans(22,35),Nagl(3-6),Pentax 10 XW, Orion 3.7 ED-2,Vixen 15 LV, Misc Junk
Mounts: CG-5GT, Orion XHD+PGram, Bogen 501 HDV
Toys: Power-X-Switch S2, BV3 Binoviewer
Money: zilch
---sleep deprivation indicator---
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refractory
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/05/05
Posts: 1016
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Tonight was my first with SWAN- just a bit brighter, about the same size as M13, and just a hint of a tail with eyes everted. No color. How come we don't get the awesome views people did centuries ago (supernovae, comets extending halfway across the sky, meteor showers that lit the sky up)????? Its way too quiet up there of late.
Jess Tauber
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Rich V.
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/02/05
Posts: 985
Loc: Carson Valley, Nevada USA
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While SWAN was relatively unremarkable last week, it really has brightened up a lot! A tail is a big help with the overall effect.
Tonight in 16x70s it's a real nice contrast to the golden Nu CrB pair; the tail extending about 3° to the NE. It's now an eyeful (or eyepiece full)!
Rich V
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Binoculars:
33-150x100 Saturn III, 16x70FMT-SX, 10x50 PCF-V, 10x43 DCF-SP, 10x35 E2, 7x35 E, 8x30 E2, 7x26 Custom, 8x23AS Diplomat, 8x23 Travelite
Scopes:
C9.25, 6" f8 reflector, SV80S
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Joad
Wordsmith
Reged: 03/22/05
Posts: 11919
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WOW! Indeed. This thing is HUGE. And greenish. And the tail is a straight arrow from one end of the field stop to the other, with the 25X100 Obie BT. I also looked with the 8 inch SCT at 40X with a 2 inch wide field EP. Very nice, but even better with the big binos. I have to thank you guys for talking this one up: I almost let it slip. But under the Mt. Pinos dark skies, this was one of the most remarkable sky sights I've seen.
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Loren Toole
member
Reged: 03/23/04
Posts: 98
Loc: New Mexico USA
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I used Fuji 10x70s last evening about 8:30 to view SWAN, a strong cold front was passing through at the time with high wind. Transparency was excellent.
I estimate the tail at over 2.5 degrees but it is faint. Some streaky detail is seen with averted. A pair of widely separated orange stars lie (guess) 2 degrees south, this contrasted nicely with the blue-green coma. The coma is larger than M13 at the moment, quite easily found. Due to moonlight I was unable to see it naked-eye.
A great view!
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My binos: Nikon 7x35/8x40, Fuji 10x70, Obie 15x60, Barska 20x80
My scopes: 5"f5 newt, 4"f5 TV Genesis, 3"f9, 3"f5
ARCO OBSERVATORY 7400'
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ftodonoghue
member
Reged: 12/02/05
Posts: 47
Loc: Ireland
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Had a look at it last night in Barska 20X80's from a reasonably dark site and it was stunning. The tail filled the whole field of view and the colour of the head was readily apparent
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12" F5 truss tube (planning stage)
8" F5 homemade dob
90mm F5.5 refractor
70mm F10 bresser skylux refractor
Barska 20X80's
Barska/Meade Hybrid 15X70's
Bresser 10X50's
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Rich V.
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/02/05
Posts: 985
Loc: Carson Valley, Nevada USA
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Tonight, with the waxing moon adding to a not-so-transparent sky, the comet still sported a nice tail around 2.5° in length pointing directly to M13, a fine sight! At 3.5° from each other, SWAN and M13 fit nicely together in the FOV of the 16x70s. Sky background was noticeably lighter tonight, though.
There were times I thought I could see the tail extend all the way through the giant GC with averted vision, but it could have been my imagination. The comet is still much brighter than M13, but the Moon is beginning to take it's toll on seeing the tail.
Even though some comets don't "knock your eye out" it's sure enjoyable watching these ever-changing cometary travellers make their way through the constellations! I hope many of you have had the chance to get a look.
Rich V
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Binoculars:
33-150x100 Saturn III, 16x70FMT-SX, 10x50 PCF-V, 10x43 DCF-SP, 10x35 E2, 7x35 E, 8x30 E2, 7x26 Custom, 8x23AS Diplomat, 8x23 Travelite
Scopes:
C9.25, 6" f8 reflector, SV80S
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ngc6475
Fearless Spectator
Reged: 03/02/02
Posts: 4790
Loc: Northern Sierra Foothills
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I took out the 16x70 and enjoyed the view with my son. The comet is remarkably brighter than M13 and its tail is very visible. It's a beautiful sight!
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Walter
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
-Mark Twain
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