Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

[fringe_dweller]

In the words of the late great tv identity Big Kev.. 'I'm Excited!' :cool:
..why?
In recent times more new very faint components of 73P have been imaged with CCD's and it is now up too 7!! components (is there more..!!?) - although wether the fainter ones survive very long is questionable.
But as it is, this is possibly looking like a closer 'string of pearls' comet more and more! recent images of component 'C' (the main body) seem to show it to be quite dusty indeed!? and hopefully that is a good sign :-)))
http://www.astrostudio.at/Astrofotos/aufnahme.php?a_id=461&page=1&kategorie=&k_id=64
but what has got me really excited is the release by Seiichi Yoshida of his light curves for the 7 components - and they may ALL reach small scope in dark sky visibilty! - if they all survive. this will be one sweet widefield shot :eyepop:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0073P/2006.html
its going to be interesting manually entering all the orbital elemets in starry night for this one :lol:
and of course for more info Michael Mattiazzo has a write up and charts for southerners on his site http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/

[davidpretorius]

i can't wait either, it will be in the north????

[fringe_dweller]

Yes mate, but we still get to see it pretty decently with elevations of up to an around 40º for 35 south at its best in may, in the morning sky near dawn. mid Northerners get it almost overhead tho, but it comes south after that :)

[cometcatcher]

Last time I observed this thing was in 1990 when it was in one piece. I just know I'm going to get confused with all the itty bitty bits this time.

Looks like the C fragment is around mag 12 at present. My small 5-6 inch scopes usually need single figures to spot them. Maybe next new moon there will be a chance for me then.

[fringe_dweller]

Good luck Kevin, :) how dark are you home's skies? I gather they are pretty decent except for some horizon's you mentioned.
when I said small scopes, I was thinking of 8" newt/dobs in dark skies, which seems to be a small scope on this forum, when i look at members sig's!.

[gaa_ian]

I think I had better get the folks interested in Imaging up early on the morning of the 8th of may for this comet !
See the attached frame from starry night, showing its proximity to the Ring Nebula :eyepop:
I presume this is peculiar to our Latitude as the Map from Astronomy 2006 shows it lower than seen here ?

[cometcatcher]

Keep in mind that's around close approach to Earth. The comet will be almost close enough to throw a stone at (0.05?au) and moving about 3 degrees per day I think so it will move through the star charts pretty quick at close approach. That should also make it a good binocular comet.

I have a street light and road in that direction about 100m away. I wish my Lilly Pilly hedge would grow faster to block the lights!

[gaa_ian]

We have a great northern horizon, with nothing but 100's of km of ocean.
So hopefully it will be a good show !

[jjjnettie]

Good O.
Here's hoping that there isn't a rush to buy telescopes to see it. Cause I couldn't bear to miss it if it's raining.

[Blue Skies]

I'm looking forward to this. I remember seeing the break up in 1995, even did a little sketch of it at the time, was a lovely sight in a small scope. I guess I'm hoping the components might break up even further and put on a really good show! yeah...here's dreaming...

[clare]

Hello ! I am new to all this and no absoulutey nothing about astronomy. I can pick out the southern cross on a good night (I am from the northern hemisphere originally !).

Basically, I am interested in this comet. I will have nothing more than my eyes and a pair of binoculars if I am lucky. In lay terms, could you please tell me when and where I need to be looking (I am in n.e. VIC)

I had my first go at astrophotography last night (the southern cross !) with my new digital slr and would like to give the comet a go too. Also, is there a meteor shower due soon ? April time ? Will it be anything as spectacular as the Leonids ???

Thanks !

[[1ponders]]

Hi Clare.

Unfortunately this comet will not be in the best position to view for you guys in the southern states. Without looking at a star chart I don't know how hight Lyra and Hercules will get for you but I can't imagine it is very high above the northern horizon. These are the two constellations the comet will pass through when it will be brightest. (If my memory serves me correct) The best thing you can do if you are intested in comets and meteor showers etc is to get a copy of the Ephemeris "Astronomy 2006" , The quintessential book for amateur astronomers interested in all things planetary, interplanetary, cometary and meteorary :P

[fringe_dweller]

Paul, rest assured, with dark, flat and clear northern horizons - and maximum altitude - we can see those constellations just fine down here :)

at closest approach on the 12th may through to the end of the month, the fragements are climbing in altitude till it reaches around 40º for midsoutherners by end of may, just in time for the moon to get out of the way.
Clare, do you have a planisphere? if not i thoroughly recommend getting one for 35º south (i think thats the standard southern latitude? ) When myself and my friends (and before computers) were learning the night sky, these were indispensible tools of the trade, and they are very cheap - a lot cheaper than dragging a laptop out in the cold :) - around 20 dollars usually?
These comet fragments during are best seen near dawn, just before it gets light, thats when they will be at their highest.
Re. the meteor shower(s) around april, nothing as speccy as the 2001 or 1998 leonids is expected this year that I know of, you do have the annual Eta Aquarids in early may (moonfree too) in the morning to dawn sky on the 6th may, but that is far from spectacular?.
But there is a possiblity of some meteor action at the beginning of june to do with this comet's trail from an earlier apparition 1995, but that is speculation at this point, would be nice tho :-)))
also comets are tricky, no one can garantee what will happen, they quite often are fizzers compared to their hype, and you do need very dark skies with most of them for quality visual work.
HTH!

[[1ponders]]

Glad to hear that Kearn. I'd be devastated to think that we'd get to see something up here and our southern brothers and sister would miss out. :whistle:


:rofl:


:poke::P

[xstream]

Hi Clare and welcome to IIS.
We'll be trying to view these two fragments in the coming months. If your interested come along to the next ASAW (Astronomical Society of Albury Wodonga) meeting, first Wednesday of the month at Victory Primary school 7:30pm. or PM (private message) me if you want some more details.

[fringe_dweller]

Paul, if us mexicans were going to miss out on something really good - couldnt we all just fly up and hang out with our friends in the north? :hi: :poke: :D

[clare]

Thanks for all the info guys !

[[1ponders]]

You'd be more than welcome Kearn. Plenty of room up here.

[astroron]

All iceinspacers are always welcome to call into Cambroon Observatory for a night or two's observing, all you have to do is call:thumbsup: :astron: :stargaze:

[fringe_dweller]

:thanks: Thanks fella's! :-) ...hmmm north for winter this year? :D

[[1ponders]]

It's a hell of a lot warmer too Kearn :thumbsup: I think I had a jumper on one day last year.

[Greg Bryant]

This is a fascinating multi-fragment comet that is continuing to track well.

The brightest fragment, C, could still reach between 3rd and 4th magnitude. Fragment B stands a good chance of reaching 6th magnitude. Under a very dark sky, and with good eyesight, that would mean two naked-eye comets visible at the same time (albeit one marginally). Not quite the same as 2004's Double Comet show, but something most unusual nevertheless.

[fringe_dweller]

just hit nine components! 'M' and 'N' now added wow :-)))))

fingers and toes crossed here, Greg :prey:

[fringe_dweller]

science@nasa and spaceweather's Dr Tony Phillips has put together a great write-up on this comet and components
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/24mar_73p.htm?list56153

[gaa_ian]

A must see on my observing calendar thats for sure !

[fringe_dweller]

I promise this is the last time I will mention newly CCD discovered, very faint mag 20 ish components :whistle: I have read of on comet lists, but the tally has reached 13 now.

I have read speculation that there may be as many as 100 (mostly very faint) fragments discovered via CCD of the 73P gang by the time it has reached closest approach - starting to sound likely?

[fringe_dweller]

wow - I am starting salivate now,
check out Mike Holloway's ( in the U.S. ) latest CCD mosiac of main fragments 'C' and 'B'
http://www.fototime.com/8B8A113407F77CB/orig.jpg

[astro_south]

checked out the C component last night from my Brisvegas suburban home. It was sitting next to two stars of similar magnitude. With my 12.5" dob I saw a small hazy blob. There was a slight notion of a core - though only after a lot of staring. The was also a hint of the haze not being circular - though this could have been more imagination than anything visible - especially given the light pollution.

[cometcatcher]

How are they getting wide angle pictures of magnitude 11/12 fragments to look so bright?

[cometcatcher]

Even though it's a bit faint yet for my small scopes, thought I'd try for it tonight. I put the 13mm Nagler in the 5.5 inch f3.64 Schmidt Newtonian "Comet Catcher", plonked it on a camera tripod and started searching. Half an hour goes by without success so I recheck star maps etc to narrow down the search field. How hard can it be? It's only to the right a bit and down a bit from Arcturus. :P :rolleyes:

A few more minutes go by, then some clouds then clear again. A slow pan across the target area and there's.... something incredibly faint. Mmm this something looks elongated. I try a few other eyepieces, nothing in the 18mm Orthorscopic, nothing in the 30mm Kelner. It's there in the LV10mm and Televue 7.5mm though.

Now that I have a fix on it I try my 6 inch f6 dob. Seems easier in this scope and it's visible with all eyepieces although it's still best in the Nagler. ;)

Well here's a piccy to confirm it is 73P, fragment C I think. This is how much it moved in 37 minutes. Mintron video camera through the 5.5" f3.64 SN. Next time I'll try and get a bit more tail in lol.

Anyone have a magnitude estimate? It's got to be the faintest object possible to see in the 5.5" scope. Two weeks ago it was in the high 11's.

The chase is on now. I bet I can't find it tomorrow night :lol: .

[fringe_dweller]

Damn fine report and image Kevin!! :) good to hear that nagler getting some comet time mate :-)))

Latest obs I have read put fragment 'C' in the mid to high 10's atm and fragment 'B' somewhere in the 12's.

here's another new shot with C B G visible http://www.astrostudio.at/Astrofotos/aufnahme.php?a_id=463&page=1&kategorie=&k_id=64

[fringe_dweller]

Thats pretty good from LP skies! great write-up! :) thanks Andrew

[gaa_ian]

Good on you Kevin, I will be looking for it at our club night this coming Sat.
Lets hope it only gets better !

[cometcatcher]

Hope you get to see it at the club.

Didn't try tonight but I've been fiddling around with last night's picture. A shorter section of the avi this time with less noise and no trails.

[cometcatcher]

A little off topic to SW3, but I was looking for C/2004 B1 Linear last night with the 10 inch f4.5 scope and couldn't find it. Guess it must not be any brighter than mag13. Haven't seen any reports this year on cbat either.

Anyone else seen this comet this year?

[fringe_dweller]

I havent, but I saw this report on yahoo cometobs recently from Jim Gifford of Bridgetown, Western Australia.

'C/2004 B1 LINEAR 2006 March 29.81 UT: m1 = 13.5, Dia = 1', DC = 1,
40cm L 153x Very diffuse comet, close to my limit.'

[cometcatcher]

That would expalin it then if it's 13.5 and on the limit of a 16 inch scope.

[gaa_ian]

Welcome to the Millenium Club Kearn :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

hehhe, cheers Ian, :) Its great to be a member :D

[cometcatcher]

SW fragment C looks a little brighter tonight although I had trouble finding it hidden among a few 'bright' stars.

I managed a 426 frame image (about 17 minutes worth) through the 5.5" f3.6 Schmidt Newtonian and have rotated the camera to show the tail pointing upwards.

The moon is going to be a problem in a few days which will probably close this observing window for a couple of weeks.

[fringe_dweller]

...I lied :D ( so sue me :P ) fragents u, v, w, x, and y. now added taking it to 18 components I think, and fragment 'B' reported to have brightened in sort of outburst (in low 10's) as of april 1st - did you guys notice that at SPSP?
another nice capture Kevin - please keep them comin

[h0ughy]

my effort, single shot taken saturday night at SPSP unguided an in strong buffetting wind:D better than nothing

[cometcatcher]

It's a good shot Houghy.

Stormy weather has set in and forecast to continue for a few days so probably won't get a chance for more piccies until the next moonless window for me.

[xstream]

That's come out well considering the conditions Dave.

[h0ughy]

thanks, I will try the other images later and stack them

[Greg Bryant]

Hi Kearn,

I and a long line-up of people observed Fragment "C" late in the evening on Saturday April 1st. Given the low altitude of Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (less than 15 degrees, and we were observing kneeling down on the ground looking through a 20 inch Dob), we didn't look for other fragments.

Cheers,

[fringe_dweller]

H0ughy, nice job :thumbsup: comet looks like she is coming along nicely :)

Hi Greg,
ahh!, thanks, I thought that may be the case, I must of been thinking of Kevin's view up there in Mackay :doh: :)

cheers

[cometcatcher]

Plenty high enough in the sky here. ;) :P

[h0ughy]

Ok so shoot me mr fringe_dweller, I forgot to take some darks. Here is a stack of 11 shots taken around midnight on Saturday 1 april. and were around 20 -30 seconds. Stacked and botched in IP2.75.:P :sadeyes:

[xstream]

Just what it looked like through the eyepiece Dave, except for the noise.

[fringe_dweller]

:tasdevil: WHAT NO DARKFRAME!! *FUME* ahha, thats like saying there is no gravy for the roast!? :P
Congrats H0ughy, that looks pretty tasty to me :) cheers for that

Mate, I havent even looked at it/them visually yet :screwy: LOL
I always wait till I can see the whites of their eye's tho :nerd:

[Greg Bryant]

Kearn,

We were only observing it at low altitude because:

1) It had risen and I wanted to see what it looked like at low-altitude
2) The previous night had seen some cloud come over, so I wasn't taking any chances.
3) One should always kneel before comets :)

No doubt you've seen the news today, but for those who haven't heard, roughly 40 fragments of the comet have now been detected, though some of their lifetimes may be very short.

Cheers,

[fringe_dweller]

SPLAT! Cool shot posted today of component B clearly breaking up/losing its composure http://comete.uai.it/comete/73P-B_060420.jpg
looks a bit similar to the famous dec '95 shot from Jim V. Scotti of the breakup of 73P!? http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/24mar_73p.htm

[gaa_ian]

Hoping for clear skies to see it next month !

[h0ughy]

I imaged the comet last night/this morning actually. here is an unprocessed shot, raw just transferred into photoshop and made a jpeg.

Canon 300d modified, Celetron C8 on eq6 unguided and not polar aligned (thats more than evident:D ) for 29 seconds at 3200 ISO ( I used it to find the comet and centralise in the camera). I only decided to go out at the last moment and setup at midnight.:rofl:

[RB]

Good one Dave.
Does anyone know what mag the comet is atm?

:)

[h0ughy]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :lol: :lol: :P now boys and girls, then using images plus one must learn how to operate the program or you get this;)

I will retry this later when I view the tutorials again in Images Plus:lol: :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

try here, took me a while in the moonlight to find it:D

[RB]

Thanks Dave,

Did it improve in appearence since Ilford?
I know the moon interered last night.

[fringe_dweller]

Again, you have yourself another piece of history in the making h0ughy :)
Superb effort - I expect more good things from you when its closer in may!

RB, the main fragment - component C, is somewhere between mag 8 and mag 8.8?, going by reported obs I have read lately

Component B (now Ba and Bb? lol) is still doing interesting things
http://www.bellatrixobservatory.org/73p_b060421.jpg
http://comete.uai.it/comete/73P-B_060420b.jpg
http://lnx.astrocampania.org/galleria/albums/Comete/73P-B_2006April21_GuiSos.jpg
and component G is also interesting - very similar to B
http://comete.uai.it/comete/73P-G_060420.jpg

Hey wheres Kevin? too many late nights imaging sw3??? wearing out those windows? maybe someone painted them shut and he cant open them? :confuse3: hope everything is ok there cometcatcher!

[h0ughy]

OK tonights effort:P , 60 seconds iso 1600 through the ED80 on the c8 unguided with the canon 300d. 3.6 degrees when this was taken!!!! I will process the images in the morning or tomorrow night. this is just a tease I hope. yes its moved a bit from this morning:lol:

[fringe_dweller]

wow 60 secs, and really low on horizon?! (or was that ambient temp?) I see the cometography bug starting to bite deep here? :) onya Dave

[h0ughy]

no that was exposure, the height was just above 12degrees from horizon I think. the temperature was cold, we had a small frost this morning

[fringe_dweller]

ahh yes I was referring to the '3.6 degrees' part of your post mate, np, thanks! great little set-up you have there too :-))

[fringe_dweller]

well seeing i am the designated driver? a couple of new piccies have cropped up in recent days
I love Mike Holloway's (USA) CCD mosiacs and he has done it again (see if i can beat spaceweather to the punch here?) contains fragments C B and G
http://www.fototime.com/45A75A52E4AA806/orig.jpg (340kb)
also John Drummond (NZ) posted a very nice one of component C yesterday http://tinyurl.com/owra5

[h0ughy]

ok here is a precessed shot, the glows in the corners are the streetlights:lol:

[jjjnettie]

I printed up a finder chart this evening and went out to find my first comet. It sure is something special! Now I know where to look I think I can just make out component B without binoculars. Can't wait for it to brighten.

[cometcatcher]

I'm here, sort of. The weather has been overcast for the last couple of weeks due to cyclones and what not. It's only just cleared.

Anyway, had my first look tonight since early April. Fragment C has really brightened and is easy in the 5.5 inch now. I think current estimates put it around mag 7.5. The nucleus looks kind of elongated. Maybe it's breaking up like the other fragments? Or maybe my eyes are blurry from all these headaches.

Tonight's piccy from a couple of hours ago. About 27 minutes worth of frames and motion through the 5.5 inch f3.6 SN.

This comet appears to be mostly dust. No plasma tail in the photo.

Congratulations Jjjnettie on your first comet!

[fringe_dweller]

H0ughy, looks good mate, I cant wait to have my own tracking setup one day :)

Watchout Jeannette - comets can be addictive! ;) anyway glad to hear you had a great time with first comet, thats what its all about. congrats :-)))

WB Kevin!!! interesting, it does look elongated as you say.
27 min!! another great capture from you, hope your feeling better for the close approach mate. :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

looking at Kevins shot and retracing the star trails, it looks as though it was a few hours after I shot mine. nice!

[cometcatcher]

I think the best time to view the comet is now, considering the full moon at close approach will be a problem next month.

[h0ughy]

Current comet magnitudes (April 23)
Comet Magnitude Trend Observable When visible
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (C) 7.5 bright 60 N to 50 S all night
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (B) 8.5 bright 60 N to 50 S all night
Pojmanski (2006 A1) 10 fade 60 N to 10 N all night
McNaught (2005 E2) 11 fade Poor elongation
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (G) 12 bright 60 N to 30 S all night
LINEAR (2004 B1) 13? steady 45 N to 65 S morning
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 13 varies Poor elongation
LINEAR (2003 WT42) 13.5 steady 60 N to 10 S best evening
71P/Clark 14 ? bright 35 N to 85 S morning
41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak [14 bright 55 N to 30 S evening

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/

[circumpolar]

Glad to see you have some clear sky.... finally! :thumbsup:

Oh, and before I forget....Thankyou for your relentless imaging of C/Pojmanski :prey2: !!!

[Greg Bryant]

Houghy,

Too many comets are never enough (to paraphrase Roy & HG).

I hope that people here are getting out to try to observe Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. What we're seeing right now - the chance to observe multiple fragments - is such a special opportunity.

And for those with long memories, tonight is 20 years since Comet Halley was visible during a total lunar eclipse. I have fond recollections of that evening, observing with my parents and my brother from Mt Banks in the Blue Mountains (and a sleep in the car on the way home as the following morning I was playing in a marching band for the ANZAC Day March).

Cheers,

[h0ughy]

Greg, happy to send any images I have good bad or ugly:lol: .

I plan to get Scott Alder this weekend and image the fragments with Berts 300mm lens hope to get big image of them. hope it works.

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Circumpolar. Glad you enjoyed the Pojmanski pics.



Me too! Only I'm still annoyed at myself since I concentrated all my efforts on the eclipse instead of Halley's comet! What an idjit I was! I had a fine view of Halley through 7x50 binos with the tail stretching through the field. I didn't think to concentrate on the comet at the time of the eclipse.

Looking forward to the pics with the 300mm Houghy.

[meade expert]

Heres a pic taken 1.30am from Saddleback Mt NSW of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 .(C component)

Taken through ED80 , Nikon D70 ,800 ISO 3 mins exposure.
Whole assembly piggybacked on a 10 inch LX200 Classic.:)

[cometcatcher]

Good shot Joe.

[fringe_dweller]

Onya Joe, nicely caught :thumbsup:

Just spent a bit of time tonight observing SW3 'C' tonight/am. First up with the 8.3" dob @ low power (~50X) from suburban backyard - and I am pretty impressed for an 8th mag comet, stood up well to the LP!.
Better than a gas comet of same mag would anyway methinks, been a while since we had a dusty one eh!
Moonlight shouldnt be so destructive for such a dusty number? not like those fragile shrinking violet gas ones ;)
Saw the much talked about bright elongated central coma, that was very cool, I thought the dusty, slightly fan shaped tail extended at times to around maybe 25'? watched it (periodically) passed a nearby, similarly as bright as elongated inner coma, star, over a few hours.
Couldnt find fragment B for the life of me with telescope or handheld large binocs (20x80's) although burning a hole in the sky looking for it!!?? pretty damn sure looking in right spot too - could see mag 5.56 star Eta Coronae Borealis, naked eye nearby :shrug: got me!, might have to wait for dark site that one.
Fragment C in the 20x80's (handheld) seemed much larger than in the 'scope, surprised me again - thought I saw a decent sized faint outer coma? edit:surprisingly large fuzzy ball ( inner coma wasnt apparent tho), and wider longer tail, around half a degree long in fact.
Checked out Jupe with the new parks ep's from 47tuc, seeing wasnt superb but I love that 7.5mm, man that rocks - sometimes barlowing bigger eps isnt good enough, got to have that genuine thing :-))) anyway great session, night!

[fringe_dweller]

:eyepop: wow - check out the recent VLT on fragment B (and its fragments)- WOOHOOO!
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/pr-15-06.html
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2006/phot-15-06.html

EDIT: LOL should of known it would be on APOD - pays to always check them first

[fringe_dweller]

had another casual squiz tonight - this time just bino's, put the 25x100's and the 20x80's on the manfretto tripod as well, and had a look with the eschenbach 8x56's handheld.
The viewing/transparency wasnt as nice as last night, might of been some cirrus or something? although I could make out plenty of mag 5.5ish stars in area NE - could be the farmers, they are starting to blinkin annual burn off before planting atm, causing it - gggrrrr - sky looked greyer
I was dissappointed with the view in the 100's which is unusual - the 20x80's was the best view, mounted on the tripod I could clearly see the cc this time - looked more like recent images posted, nowhere near as much tail visible as last night, but was also at a lower elevation than last night - geez its movin on out!
In the 8x56's it was pretty sad - just a little patch the winked in and out of view
anyway someone was complaining about the lack of visual reports on this forum - so here's my contribution! :) cant complain now?
anyway roll on the dark skies of SA's north :-))) (if we can dodge the pyromaniac farmers that is)

[fringe_dweller]

:eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:
awwww cmon, am i dreaming? what a show, what an amazing show
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/18/

[h0ughy]

Dang, cloud all this weekend. any WA people getting some viewing? Eastern Australia won't

[middy]

This is my one and only attempt to image a comet. It's in there somewhere ...... I think. :P

The problem is my northern view incorporates the glow of Brisbane and I only have a narrow window of opportunity through a gap in the trees. That plus the fact that I'm not really sure what I am looking for. :(

FWIW 17 x 32 sec exposures at ISO 200 taken on 27/4/06 between 11:30 pm & 12:00 am

[h0ughy]

doesn't quite go deep enough, I think you only have stars down to mag5/6, you need at least good exposure to mag9:thumbsup: but nice try

[middy]

Doesn't go deep enough! ... doesn't go deep enough! ... what do you mean doesn't go deep enough? I'll have you know that some of those faintest dots in that image are mag 9 according to Cartes du Ciel. Only mag 5/6 indeed!!!! :rofl: That does it I'm taking my telescope and going home :P

Seriously though. If I did manage to capture it what sort of size scale are we talking about here? How big would it appear at the same scale as the image I posted here? Is the tail fairly long?

[h0ughy]

Um ,err , i did that off the cuff, sorry but it didn't look that you got those mags, see earlier shots by myself and others for size indication:D :help: :whistle:

[middy]

I looked at those but I couldn't recognise any of the stars in the images. What FOV are those images then?

[h0ughy]

they is you look at the computer generated locality images you will see

[middy]

OK worked it out now. "Smaller than a gnats nads" seems to be the correct answer then to "how big is it?" :D I was imagining something as large but a lot fainter than the comet (whose name escapes me for the moment) that was around a few years ago visible to the naked eye.

[h0ughy]

Starts with H:whistle:

[middy]

No not H0ughy's comet. Not even Halley's comet. I think it was around the late 90's.

[h0ughy]

Comet Hyakutake. Scott Alder took a picture of it that made it to the cover of Sky and Space magazine back then.:thumbsup:

[middy]

Aaaahh, now I have seen the name it is kinda ringing a vague bell. Yeah that one.

Anyway, I was determined to find some trace of fragment C in my image. After pinpointing more accurately where it should have been and studying the images it turns out that for the first few images it was behind the tree in the bottom RH corner. So after removing those from framelist and then picking the best 6 from the remaining and stretching the living daylights out of the final histogram, I managed to get this. It is a crop of the bottom RH corner of the final image.

That very very very faint streak hidden amongst all the background noise could be it. :D It's good enough for me :thumbsup: I can sleep tonight now.

[h0ughy]

:rofl: I will beleive you, but fringe dweller had better verify this image!:D :P

[[1ponders]]

How this one middy. An uncropped image of Cor Bor with Comet SW circled using a 50mm lens. Levels slightly adjusted to make the comet clearer. No cropping or other processing hence the lovely amp glow. This was taken on the 24/25-4-06

[fringe_dweller]

Hey Paul, nice catch!! you actually have fragment B as well - sweeeet shot :thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

]Hi middy - pretty image of Corona Borealis - beautiful :)
heres my snp screen shot of the time you imaged - you indeed have the right spot - not sure if my orbital elements are exactly correct (may be out by 4 arc seconds or so) due to snp harvards single OE available (and its for the original SW3 before breakup LOL) I had to modify some of the ones available on the net - PITA! - had to do my own julian dates for perihelion, so not sure if thats the problem - anyway should be close enough.
There does seem to be a similar streak in the tree's near it - so cant say for sure anychance of stacking more for a deeper shot? i did stretch the hell out of it PS and there seems to be something there?
PS have included the obit path (blue line) for that moment in time - interesting to look at the other fragments on it - some slightly off the path :)
yep clouds/rain for us to hOughy :rolleyes: hope it clears for ya mate (re Berts sexy lens!)

PS EDIT: middy, re comet from 90's sure your not thinking of Hale Bopp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale-Bopp

[[1ponders]]

:cool: :D

[h0ughy]

excellent image Paul, and two bits. Cloudy very cloudy here now after a spotless afternoon built the moment, only to disappear in a flash with this rotten cloud, maybe just maybe might be able to get some thing monday or sunday night!

[[1ponders]]

I'm off to Ron's tonight so I'll try a few more shots (that was only a single shot) in a nice dark sky.

[fringe_dweller]

after a bit of googling I did find some other fine examples of wide field dslr shots showing the brighter two fragments

http://www.astroarts.co.jp/gallery/comet/73p_sw3/gallery9-j.shtml
http://www.astroarts.co.jp/gallery/comet/73p_sw3/index-j.shtml

Makes you appreciate our dark skies a bit more! Still like Paul's the best tho :)

[fringe_dweller]

Have made some screen shots from snp that covers tonight/am and may 1,2,3 and the 14th, times dates are written on them - just for those who may not have the other fragments in their planetariums or maps.

[fringe_dweller]

and the last two

[fringe_dweller]

I am starting to see reports and images that suggest fragment B is in outburst and of a similar brightness to fragment C - both in the low 7's in magnitude, and B with a bigger coma?!! aaarrrgggggggg clouds
:mad2: :sad: :tasdevil: :tasdevil: :help2: :violin:
Good Luck to all intrepid imagers - you may have some results tonight :)

[dennislowe]

I am at Carindale and my nothern aspect looks over the gateway bridge. You have to see yhe skyglow to believe it.
However I have just found the comet, the seeing is poor and my limiting mag must be about 9 or 10 with the eyepiece I am using, but there it is. A fuzzy with a brighter nucleous.
Dennis

[fringe_dweller]

Wow Must be fairly nice in dark skies then eh Dennis! (that lucky 1ponders and his crew gggrrrr lol), glad you caught the little bugger anyway :) and good hunting in what sounds like tough conditions visually. :-))))

[fringe_dweller]

actually take a look at the 7 day forecast for adelaide from BOM website

'Forecast for Saturday evening
Cloudy with a shower or two. Cool with light to moderate south to southwest
winds.

Precis Shower or two.

Forecast for Sunday
Cloudy with a few showers. Cool with moderate south to southwest winds.

Monday Shower or two. Min 12 Max 18
Tuesday Shower or two. Min 12 Max 17
Wednesday A few showers. Min 12 Max 17
Thursday Shower or two. Min 13 Max 19
Friday A few showers. Min 12 Max 19
Saturday Shower or two. Min 11 Max 18'

their coming to take me away HAHA HEHE :screwy: :hi: :sadeyes:

[dennislowe]

Yes I enjoy a night out with a dark sky. I often go to a spot about 1h:30m drive away out near Esk. I think I will head out that way tomorrow and have adecent look at the C fragment and also check out the B bit if I can find it.

[h0ughy]

lots of cloud and moisture in the atmosphere, then the fog rolled in. heaps of skyglow and smoke from wood fires. so i just set the Pentax *istDS on the mount and hoped I got the polar alignment ok by eye, these are at 50mm ona sigma 50-500 zoom lens at f4 iso 1600. better than nothing. I will process them later, unfortunatelly IP only handles raw from canon not Pentax so had to shoot in jpeg.

good squinting gentlemen.

[Astroman]

well done david,can just make out the comet in the last image there, didnt look at the other two, but I am sure it's there too

[[1ponders]]

It was well visible last night at Ron's (C). Good views were through the trusty 10X50 pentax binocs. Easily stretched 1/3 to 1/2 the field of view. Clearly visible but looked better with averted vision. Best view was through the ED80 with a 16mm T2 nagler. Stretched across the full field of view. Very easily seen. Unfortunately no shots. I was waiting for the comet to get 20 or so deg above the northern horizon but by the time the comet was high enough for some really good shots high cloud moved in.

[fringe_dweller]

Nice one h0ughy - can see comet SW3 B easy in the third one - and I can see comet SW3 C very easy in all of them, and I am sure B is in the others too, thanks for sharing them dude :)

Great report Paul! glad you all got some nice views - cheers :thumbsup:

EDIT: just saw this on another forum - i think its pretty cool
http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/html/mov/320px/heic0605b.html

[h0ughy]

Thanks, I can send you the fullfile if you like, mark out what you think is the other comets pieces!

i am downloading the broacast quality one, excellent and amazing footage

[middy]

There was a tree in the way for any images earlier than those. I have a very narrow window of opportunity between two trees. If I get a chance again I might try some 48sec @ ISO400 exposures instead of 32sec @ ISO200.

As for the 90's comet, I just found the photo I took and it would have been around late 1997 so that would make it Hale-Bopp.

[h0ughy]

I got too keen last night, cant see the forest for the trees.

edit: i should add these are 4 shots stacked in IP. sorry for the quality. pentax raws are not able to be processed in Ip for some reason so they were Jpegs to start with. I might have to get a 350D ;-)

[fringe_dweller]

Caught fragment C a couple of times through momentary sucker holes, with the 20x80's handheld in backyard this morning am - still looking good! was looking thru thin clouds at times and still looked nice, about .25º bright tail, star-like pseudo-nucleus nice and bright in a typical type fuzzball of at least 10' in size. I think i saw fragment B as well, smaller but there, was over in seconds tho due to clouds.
Nice to check M13 while in area too still a very nice glob.
Houghy, I am on mac I am sure you can do a better job on your PC, I dont have the proggies you have. plus my ozelame email only allows 10meg storage/transfer :P - thanks for the offer, did do a kind of effort on the 3rd jpg but the 'bits' are much more visible in your original lol
Re 350d, thought you had a modded 300D!??
the large version of vid is awesome eh :) - that will go down in history as one of the great hubble shots i would hazard a guess? maybe more to come? - i want to see a shot of the main fragment C with hubble - wow! wonder if they are holding out?
The scorpian has a nice sting to it too Dave!!! some well gathered photons

[gaa_ian]

That is an excellent movie of the comet breakup !
I was hoping to see it last night, but the clouds won before hercules could rise.

[fringe_dweller]

Hi Ian, hope you get some clear skies soon, you've had a bad trot with the weather lately mate (thats what they call an understatement I believe?) :P
Anyway interesting to compare this ground shot (courtesy the pope) with the hubble shot :D
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~chergen/73P.html

[h0ughy]

cool link Fringy! just to think nasa send in the comet smasher a few months back costing millions and now they get one for free in their own backyard virtually!

[fringe_dweller]

good point houghy! no probes sent to this one!!?? weird eh? oh well :shrug:
(PS: I keep picturing his holiness the Pope in full regalia, pointy hat ect. bent over the monitor producing that shot hahahhahaa cant get it out of my head :help: )

[[1ponders]]

Comet 73P from 01:30
4X120sec ISO1600 calibrated and combined in IP and PS adjusted for levels curves and gradients. Taken through Orion ED80. Uncropped image, resized and quality adjusted in PS CS

[Mick]

Very nice image Paul, I observed fragment C with 7x50 binos at 2:30 it is very easy to find.

[h0ughy]

LOvely shot there Paul!!!! were you actually tracking the comet, or was the star trailing part of the IP process?:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Nice one Paul! Great images everyone.

[h0ughy]

PHOTO-OP: Mark your calendar: On May 8th at approximately 0300 UT (11 pm EDT on May 7th), fragment C of dying comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 will pass very close to the Ring Nebula in Lyra. from space weather so we might have to check the date.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030516.html link to a m57 POTD

[[1ponders]]

Part of the IP processing h0ughy. In the final combining I chose the comet as the reference point to stack the Images.

[RB]

Wow fantastic image Paul.

:eyepop:

[gaa_ian]

I had noticed that houghy
It would make a great Image, I hope one of you gun imagers here can get it !

[fringe_dweller]

:prey2: Thats a ripper Paul - well met sir! :)

h0ughy: regarding photo op close encounter with the ring nebula, that really favours the U.S. time line That happens at about midday to 1 pm for adelaide - seeing the comet moves about 5 degree's from the 8th to 9th local time, for us, we miss out on the really really close encounter/superimposing unfortunately, not to say that it wont still be nice for us nearby.
having said that, I notice fragment B and G are kinda close (with in a degree or two) to GC M13 on the AM of the 4th may - that should look pretty good in a widefield telescopic view!

[[1ponders]]

When I was checking setting up I grabbed a couple of widefields first.

00.15
2-5-006.
3@ 240 sec
ISO800 @ 80mm FL
calibrated with a single dark, aligned stacked digital processed first in IP then quick curves and levels and crop and resize in PS.

For some reason IP turned the final image reddish when applying Digital developement :shrug: didn't worry too much about it in the end product. You will see M13 off to the left near the palm fronds.

[Lester]

Nice shot Paul, and interesting effect with the tree.

I like it.

[gaa_ian]

Clouds here again tonight :doh:
I am in Brisbane Wed & Thus night, so I hope the skies are clear !

[cometcatcher]

Very nice images Paul. :thumbsup:

I've had all sorts of computer problems over the last few days as you may know. I've installed XP on the machine I image with in this room and it's drivers and the Mintron camera get along like cat and dog. Makes imaging very difficult, as if it wasn't hard enough before! It's almost enough to make me give up imaging until I get something that works properly.

Anyway, got two pics last night. The brighter fragment C and another fragment in the second pic. Which fragment is this? B?

Fragment C was easy to see in 7x50's also.

[[1ponders]]

Thanks Kevin. Same for you, great shots.

I'm intrigued as to how you take your images. I would guess that you are guiding on the comet while you are imaging. Is this correct?

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Paul. Each frame from the camera is 2.5 seconds long and is part of an avi of hundreds of frames, much like how everyone takes planet pics but each frame is a longer exposure. Total duration is over 20 minutes so the comet has moved in this time. Frames are tracked and stacked in Registax.

[[1ponders]]

I might have to try catching it with the LPI as an avi and see how I go. Thanks

[h0ughy]

Just don't make the mistake and load windows XP pro 64bit on a new 64bit machine, there are no drivers for anything.:P

Wonderful images there, could you go for the third one or cant find it? I cant find it myself but it must be there.


can you do a widefield with that camera?

[fringe_dweller]

Kevin's Back!! and in style :) ,well done!! Nice to have some dusty targets again isnt it :) ...magnitude estimates are kinda almost meaningless with the dusty comets I reckon, when you have so much intrinsic brightness in the dust tail itself.
Got C's little brother/sister there in B I see - what a performer that one is turning out to be ;)
another very nice widefield from you 1ponders :)

h0ughy, PC's are only now going 64 bit? ... geez - weve had that in macs for at least 4 years now (dual G4's onwards)
I hear vista, when it comes out soon, will only work on 64 bit machines (dual cores and AMD's?) - is that true?

[cometcatcher]

Yep, just depends what lens I slap on it. I should try a wide field next.

Cloudy here tonight so won't be getting any pictures.

[Mick]

Very nice images Kevin, I kinda knew you'd find a way even with a bung computer. I got up again this morning for a look and this time I managed to find fragment B. :)

[Smokey]

I received these links from an email list I,m on of the comet passing M57 and thought they are worthy of posting here.

I love the gif animation.
http://astronomy.qteaser.com/images/m57cometanimations.gif
http://astronomy.qteaser.com/images/57cometalmost.jpg
:eyepop:

[[1ponders]]

That is a brilliant animation :eyepop:

The still isn't too shabby either :bowdown:

Do you have any details on who captured it and how?

[Smokey]

All I know is that it they were taken by someone on a yahoo amateur astronomer group. He goes by the name Markqteaser. No other details are known.

[fringe_dweller]

Pretty darn surreal eh Craig :)
This mysterious Mark posted it on yahoo cometchasing as well, all he says there is..
"For the 1s who missed this great event here is an animation i put
together so you can almost feel like you were there
This is 23 1.5 minute subframes as the comet passes by M57
Enjoy
Mark"
I went through his site, his full name doesnt appear anywhere ... pretty modest dude!? Anyway that is one sweeet capture :-))
PS seen some reports that fragment B just had yet another significant outburst and is now maybe at 6th mag!
PPS Kevin, did you see the posted on comets-ml, close-up of fragment B showing breakup, taken with the mintron :)
by Hartwig Luethen
"Just did stack the images of P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 from Mai 4-5.
Used a Celestron 8, focal length reduced to about 900mm using a
binocular lens. Camera: Mintron, video recorded on Camcorder for 10-15
minutes. Images stacked with Fitswork."
http://home.tiscali.de/astrohardy/mintron/sw3/fragmentb_2000.jpg
awesome - I'm very impressed :-))

[CometGuy]

Did anyone catch component B this morning? I woke 2:30pm and was stunned to see that B has brightened more than a magnitude from the previous morning and is now mag 5! Very nice bright object with an obvious tail and I could even see it with the naked eye looking back over brisbane.

Terry

[[1ponders]]

Where abouts is B now?

I might even be tempted to get my bones out of bed for that.

[h0ughy]

I admit I was too tired and missed it, but now we are being clouded out:( . will try to look

[CometGuy]

Tommorrow morning B will be 5 degrees east of Vega. Its changes appearance from night to night, a really amazing object. C will be on the Cygnus/Vulpecula border.

Moon sets around 4am so that will be the time to see it.

Terry

[fringe_dweller]

Onya Terry, I was wondering if any one bothered to have a look to see what I was missing :)
Been mostly blanket clouded out/raining here for at last a week and a half or more now :rolleyes: clearing for moon now of course - we had to cancel an imaging trip north due to freaky weather the other day (same weather that made Virgin cancel all adelaide flights for the day! - it was like out of the day after tomorrow - big freeze LOL)

How's some of the close-up images of B and its jets from this outburst, on the net :eyepop: not tempted to crack out the Tak astrograph/monachrome CCD? :-) I miss the images you used to get with that beast/combo - not that I dont love the widefields just as much - will never forget the WM1 shot(s) :-))))

[iceman]

OMG just look at this SW/M57 pic by Stefan Seip from Germany.

Stefan is one of the worlds best astrophotographers. His website is http://www.photomeeting.de/astromeeting/_index.htm

Here's the comet/M57 pic.

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2006/08may06/seip1.jpg

[gaa_ian]

We have some great Astrophotographers on this site, but Stephan takes the cake. That is Awesome !!!
I only wish I could have see the comet myself this morning, these clouds must lift eventually !

[[1ponders]]

:tasdevil: clouds :mad2:

[fringe_dweller]

How about the spitzer shot :) http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-13/ssc2006-13a.shtml

[iceman]

Nice!

Check out this one from Stefan, taking on a 1-metre telescope with an SBIG camera.

http://www.photomeeting.de/astromeeting/topic_comets.htm

It's the 4th one (first shot on the second row).

[middy]

:eyepop: Wow, his site is full of eye-popping pictures. The 3-D comet is good if you can see those type of pictures.

[fringe_dweller]

Yep Stefan is one of the best - I would love to have his budget/lifestyle :)
seems flying to anywhere on earth for a photo-op is not out of his reach - he took THE Machholz/Pleiades shot IMO during that campaign/apparition (and that was up against a LOT of competition) - he even comes south and steals/cherry picks our comets at will :P :D nothings sacred

[CometGuy]

Kearn,

Sadly, the Tak and CCD get little use these days just too much setup time and too small field of view. Anyway, I am busy trying to find a comet of my own these days..so its 2 cameras and wide angle lenses doing duty on the mount.

Got another look at the comet this morning, and its lost a little bit of punch since since yesterday but still very nice.

Yeh stefan's images are great aren't they!

Terry

[fringe_dweller]

Fair enough Terry, I was getting carried away a bit there - its not like 73P's not getting very much coverage I guess LOL ;)
woah! TWO!! dslr's going now for the survey! I didnt know that, It can't be long until were all chasing the first Comet Lovejoy, I suspect :-))))
I tips my hat to you sir!

[gaa_ian]

Well I will be setting the alarm for 4am to have another crack at this, from what i can tell the B & C fragments are equally as bright ?

[fringe_dweller]

who knows what B's gonna do Ian, from what I have read, and from Terry's last observation, sounds like it has subsided a tad, but still just naked eye at a dark spot - but its like a volcano, bit hard to predict I guess. could go dormant and then just kaboom! Good luck!

[gaa_ian]

Saw fragment B easy this morning, but was foiled in my attempts to see fragment C by the clouds rolling in.
Must remember to have a map Pre-printed next time !

[iceman]

Check out this amazing image, even some small little galaxies in the background.

http://www.masil-astro-imaging.com/Latest_Images.html

It's the bottom right image.

You gotta click the fullsize verison, but just beware it's 1.7meg. Definitely worth it though.

The thumbnail is from the site - MASIL Astro Imaging.

[fringe_dweller]

wow pretty deep eh! a bit to deep for something moving that fast methinks, must of added deeper shots of area to stack? something funny about the brown ring around the ring neb itself? 'tis a little trickery/magic going on there :shrug:
take a look at a QT movie by Jeff Terry (U.S) (all mac too :)) of said fragment moving away from ring - check out progress over around an hour and a half!! wo-wo-woah - something Hyakutake-like about that apparent speed/proximity :)
http://mrmac.mr.aps.anl.gov/~astronut/pages/cometM57.htm
Note: MOV loads at bottom of page

Love the pic on the front page of those two guys in the U.S. site you linked
http://www.masil-astro-imaging.com/home.html
:)

[Astroman]

Also check out this one http://s144930091.websitehome.co.uk/gifs/optimised_SW_73_B.avi

73P B fragment, taken by Martin Nelson in the UK.
Reminds me of the old movie reels of Halleys comet.

[gaa_ian]

Yay :thumbsup:
Finally got to have a look at both comet fragments B & C this morning.
Fragment B is definatly the brighter of the 2 with a distinct tail.
Fragment C's tail can only be seen with averted Imagination !
Pity is, I had to wait for clear skies to coinside with a near full moon :doh:

[h0ughy]

we have had a lot of morning cloud and now its raining so I have missed out this week. our forecast is for cloudy days for a while.:sadeyes:

[CoombellKid]

Same weather conditions here :mad2: and just when I have a new toy for the toolbox :sadeyes:

regards,CS ...soon I hope

Rob

[fringe_dweller]

:mad2: yep solid low cloud (especially at night) here for weeks now - officially SNAFU ggrrrrrrrr cant even get a pic of the full moon (need a hit badly now) I bought a little dvd player to focus with and all :tasdevil: :sad:
cheers for report Ian too :)

[gaa_ian]

No Worries Kearn, I know how you feel about the cloud.
I have only had a few small windows of opportunity in the last few months !

[fringe_dweller]

YAY clear skies at last! hey there not bad at all - just had quick squiz 20x80' bibocs hand held.
Found the first and larger tadpole, fragment B, very easy, considering moonlight, and local LP. Could make out large (maybe about 10' in diam) dust hood/coma and cc pretty well, hints of a tail of at least 2 degrees, brighter part was easy half a degree.
fragment C was a smaller slimmer version of B, very nice in its own right, and had some elevation on B, with maybe around .5 deg. of tail.
Very cool to see two simultaneous bright binocular comets within a short distance of each other :) what a night :-))))))

[gaa_ian]

Your post here answers my question on your moon shot post.
Sounds like you had a good time !

[Smokey]

Looks like it could be a clear night here tonight so thought I,d try get outta bed and have a look for myself. Can anyone point me to a reasonable starchart that shows where the various components are? I have CDC but I can only seem to get it to show just one component and I,m not even sure which component it is.

[fringe_dweller]

Craig, here's a couple of screenshots for adelaide tomorrow morning 5:30 am 17th May looking north/north east
try this website for more charts - click on 73P
http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/
I wish I had left the scope out for a look this morning - DOH!

[gaa_ian]

Hope you got to see the comets Smokey
I had another look this Morning, with both the B & C fragments Squarely in Pegasus.
The B fragment was as clear as last time I looked, however the C fragment had a more easily decernable tail this time.(perhaps due to better seeing ?)
Not a distinct or long as fragment B, but clearly visable.
Observed with a pair of 16x60 pentax PCF WP Binoculars, a favourite instrument of mine for comet watching.

[h0ughy]

saw both this morning at 4.40 - definite tail on one, the other was a struggle to make it out. Nice to see it naked eye for the first time and through bino's. Now hope its clear this weekend to image it

[Smokey]

:(
I missed it last night.Talk about Murphys law.
Since bringing home our first baby over the weekend, she has been getting up for a feed at around 3.00-3.30 every morning. The first cloudless night and I volunteer to get up and what happens???...She slept thru till 7:00 am. :lol:
Hopefully the clouds will stay away tonight and I,ll try again.

[gaa_ian]

WOW ...you could see it naked Eye Houghy ... I'm impressed !
To faint for me under a moonlit sky !

[h0ughy]

No I am not pulling your leg either, if you have a look at http://weather.wvec.com/auto/wvec/global/Region/AU/2xJetStream.html you would have noticed that we had no Jetstream, matter-of-fact the twinkling over Newcastle at that time in the morning was virtually nil even right to the horizon. The sky was extremely contrasty and the moon really didn't seem bright. Looking north in Pegasus area I was able to make out smudges, one with a definite tail, the other just the smudge. The tail was not big. Really surprised me with the seeing conditions.

[fringe_dweller]

I'm impressed too! :eyepop: you will have to donate those eyes to science one day H0ughy :whistle:

PS I think it has been mentioned here, but if your not aware and it may be obvious , but it helps a lot to block the moon out with a tree or building or something when viewing the comets in these conditions - and beware the moon just gets closer to the comets now till its gone again - go for it! I would be interested in some telescopic view reports now :)

[h0ughy]

Fringy, Normally I am as blind as a bat, but this morning was something very special, and probably will never happen again, the moon was easily blocked out. But the sky conditions were supurb. I wished I had the scope setup to do some imaging. The smudges were not very big either, but with the skychart it was easy to identify the comet bits. You are correct the moon will be a problem, then again, it is getting less and less bright.;)

[fringe_dweller]

Fair enough David, I wasn't there of course, and seeing you have mentioned this observation on an national (and international?) forum with millions of people watching? you must fairly convinced of this :D



yes it does go from - 12/13 down to -11 or so :P

[h0ughy]

quite true:P but its an improvement:lol:

[chrissara]

Sorry I have been away for two weeks and still haven't seen the comet. Just too lazy to wake up at 2am to set up the ETX.

Am I correct in saying that 3:30-4am is about the right time now to observe the comet? i.e. it is getting earlier in the morning?

Also which part of the comet is the most observable i.e. which segment and it's rough magnitude.

[fringe_dweller]

:)

[fringe_dweller]

They are definitely moving to the east everyday, so closest to local dawn, but still dark is best for catching them at their highest elevation but having said that they do rise at about 2:30 am in the e/n/e.
Fragment B is the brightest of the two bright fragments, I guesstimated fragment B to be in the low 5's of magnitude when i saw it last on tuesday morning and fragment C in the high 5's but smaller, and tail not as bright and big as B.

[fringe_dweller]

very first time I have seen it mentioned in aussie mainstream media, I guess its something? didnt even see hubble or spitzer shot on news - unusual!
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19178286-29277,00.html

[Greg Bryant]

Kearn,

Come to Sydney! :) There was a story in the Sydney Morning Herald last week - Sydney Observatory was hosting a public observing session in the pre-dawn.

I've found it fascinating to bump into non-astronomers who know there is a crumbling comet in the sky. It may not be a prominent naked-eye sight, but a certain fraction of the general public are aware of it.

Cheers,

[fringe_dweller]

Greg, why? havent you got enough ex south aussies over there yet? :)
I might of just missed it in the news I guess, certainly wasnt in the newspaper. did they get a good turn out at the observatory for comets?

Anyhoo just got back in from a quick look at the pair with the 20x80 binocs, and this time I printed out a star chart and tried to get a rough estimation of there magnitude, instead of relying on the legions of northern hemisphereans doing all the obs, and they are both dimmer than 6.3 thats for sure, - I may of way over estimated there brightness the other day, although I think B was a lot brighter the other day.
Sorry for the bum steer chrissara, but I also hadnt read/seen any obs for a few days, and doing mag estimates in moonlight is tricky, can underestimate them.
B was dimmer than C, I would put it in the high 6's easy - they have switched around again in that regard.
but B still had the larger outer coma, which was around 15 ghostly arcminutes in dia. and probably had at least .5 deg tail
C had about a quarter of a degree of tail and a smaller but brighter coma.
Moon interfered more with the view on this morning than it did on tuesday morning for me as well.
man that must of been a nice view when B flared middle of last week, lucky people who saw that :-)

[mickoking]

G,day Cobbers,

Checked out the comet for the first time this morning. Picked it up easily in the 80mm short tube despite the waning gibbious moon and morning twilight.

Quite a cute little thing she is :lol:

[chrissara]

I also had a look (or tried to look) this morning at about 4:30am. Unfortunately I was relying on my ETX125 Autostar to do the work for me and in all honesty I couldn't say if I was looking at the comet at all. Could someone give some tips or perhaps a nice simple skychart link for a beginner?

Regards
Chris

[fringe_dweller]

Chris sorry to hear you were unsuccessful in locating the comets this morning, were you using low power in the scope?
Seeing there is a lack of wide view simple charts specifically for the southern hemisphere on the net, I have created two for tomorrow (sunday) morning and one for monday morning using SNP.

As mentioned before, for a more detailed close up chart please visit http://www.yp-connect.net/~mmatti/ click on 73P

One tip I would give when not using a goto system, and just doing it the old fashioned starhopping method, is use a pair of binoculars (preferably large for these two) to locate them first before using scope, if possible.

I know not everyone has large binocs lying around, but at the prices they are today, I dont understand how any serious observer cant afford them.
I have been using my andrews 20x80 triplet for these two, and other binocular comets, and I love them. You dont need superb optics binocs to enjoy casual viewing of bright binocular comets I have found, although that would be nice to have. There not much good for anything else tho IMO :P .

I mean he has 20x80s for 150 bucks!!! omg! thats the price of an eyepiece LOL. anything over 50mm (the more aperture the better - but if you dont have a mount and have to handhold it, dont go too big , 60 - 70mm would be nice as well,)
http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-11.htm

[chrissara]

Thnaks for the help Fringe_Dweller. I actually after posting pulled up SNP and printed one out for 4:30am, but your advice regarding the binoculars I believe will be the way to go. I was actually using a 25mm Plossl when trying to observe.

I could see various pin pricks of light, but could tell if they were the comet, fragments or stars.

[fringe_dweller]

No worries Chris, the old planetarium proggies are a god send arent they!
(I know theres good virtual/java online ones to from memory)
I have to say I am reading some wildly varying estimates on their brightness - some say in the 7's even 8's! some even high 5's still - so all i will say is they are the biggest and best damn 7th/8th magnitude (binocular ) comets I have ever seen, particularly through all that moonlight and LP! ;)
interesting!

[gaa_ian]

I am glad I DID get to see the outburst of Comet Fragment B, as it was quite obviously brighter than Frag. C.
I tried to get up this morning after a long nights observing for a look, but clouds interfered. And mozzies outside the tent were no great inducement either !

[fringe_dweller]

Had a quick look at the dynamic duo this morning (monday) frag C looked quite good, considering how close to the 23.7 day old moon it was. some tail bright condensed head. Had very bad problems with internal reflections from the moon in the handheld 20x80's, and fast moving local cloud - so B was a challenge as a result.
Only glimpsed it before clouds ect. won and its outer coma appeared as a very dim but decent sized patch/ball of light, with no tail seen. They are certainly not speccy comets - but there is two of them :D
neither appeared to be certainly not any brighter than 6th mag, certainly less than that even.

[gaa_ian]

Who knows Kearn, we may get lucky and see the complete disintergration of one of these fragments as it gets closer to the sun ?

[fringe_dweller]

we can only hope for more outbursts Ian - but they dont get much closer to the sun then they already were/are now - its not a particularly close perihelion at .94 AU max on the 6th/7th June.
btw they really have now become equatorial/southern hemisphere favouring objects, dont forget the NH is approaching summer quickly, with the days longer, most of them are looking at it in twighlight now if they want a squiz.

[gaa_ian]

I gathered that they were becoming difficult for our northern cousins, after seeing a few photos on spaceweather.
I had another look this morning (what a glutton:drink: )
Fragment B was a little harder to spot, having a more condensed core & a longer thinner tail. C was easily 1/2 a Mag brighter, with a shorter tail & wider coma.
Couldn't help but take a close up look at Ol Luna too, Schroders Valley is an awe inspiring sight at this phase of the moon, looking for all the world like a river delta that has stained the surface of the moon a dark grey.
It's a challenge getting up that bit earlier, but boy is it worth it.
Oh yes, BTW the seeing was excellent :thumbsup:

[gaa_ian]

Well I don't know about you folk, but I went out for another look at these comets this morning.
As they now draw further away from us they are (aparently) converging.
I can almost fit them both in a 16x60 binocular field of view.
Still looking good 7 if anything the B component is a little brighter than the last few days.
I am having a public viewing of this pair on Sat morning to Coinside with the new moon, lets hope it is clear skies !

[Mick]

Yes Ian awesome sight, I could fit both in the fov of 7x50's. Very clear and cold morning here for a change. :)

[gaa_ian]

Good to hear Mick, i tied with smaller Bino's but they are not of Astronomical quality, unlike my pentax 16x60's.

[CometGuy]

I got this image this morning from my survey images (I use a 350D + 300D to sweep for comets). This was with made with just a 50mm focal length lens + 350D and is a small 7 degree wide crop from the top of the field. What an impressive comet!

Terry

[fringe_dweller]

:eyepop: :cheers: wow! that is an absolute stunner Terry - I'd better stop i'll start gushing very badly, anyway thanks for sharing that :thumbsup:
that shot should bring a few more viewers out to brave the cold early hours!
PS is that shot reversed/mirror image? EDIT:woops dont worry i ged it now! its on edge in relation to an southern earth view

[h0ughy]

very nice can you post your settings?

[fringe_dweller]

and Nice reports guys! :thumbsup: I loved reading them, Ian your going for it arent you mate! impressive effort sir! good luck with the public viewing - the weather keeps on tormenting us in SA of course (coldest may morning in 21 years this morning :cold: )

[CometGuy]

Houghy,

Settings were 10 x 3 minutes at ISO400 with standard 350D + Canon EF50mm Focal length f1.8 lens set at f3.5. Temperature was 8 C and transparency very good. Processing was using IRIS and Adobe Photoshop elements.

Terry

[Mick]

Impressive comet indeed as is your photo Terry thanks for posting.

[h0ughy]

Thanks Terry!

[fringe_dweller]

*bump* well beautiful clear morning, did the historical 'two bright binocular comets/components in one FOV' thing this morning in light polluted backyard with the 8x56's - wow I would have to go back to hale-bopp and Kopff in the same fov at around mag 7/8 in may '96 for a similar senario - but they were two diff comets at least :P
C is in the mid 6's and B low 7's mag wise - but both have decent little tails and and reasonably large coma's - which is pretty cool for comets of these mags.
Best views were still with the 20x80 binoc's of comets individually. There was something of the decorative wall ducks (with one missing!) to the wider binoc view - stoked!
this comet is receding away from earth at around .1 AU a day atm so get in quick! :)

[gaa_ian]

Great shot Terry !
I held a Public viewing morning this morning & was able to pick up the C component, but the town centre lights & a thin high veil of clouds obscured the fainter B fragment.

[fringe_dweller]

*remove* dissapointing weather thwarted imager too many late nights diatribe

http://www.fg-kometen.de/pix/73P/73P_26052006.htm
http://www.fg-kometen.de/pix/73P_e.htm

amazing shots :eyepop:

[fringe_dweller]

finally got to see them from a dark site, on me todd - thought it would never happen, ( should of gone out sat morn, that was the one - typical :P )
went out yesterday for attempt at imaging with a mate, clear when we left town, clouds manifested out of fat air enroute, next minute raining.
Similar this morning, but not as bad.
At least I got to see them briefly for about 5 minutes with 8x56's from a very dark country site (before the magical morning local hill cloud appeared, lots of driving around to no avail), wouldnt it be lovely if you just lived at a dark location, doh!.
The milky way/sky was the typical awesome winter when its good type sky. but alas it was an illusion lol - but I did have my 5 minutes with these beauties from my fave local dark sky site at about 3:30 am.
These are one of the most bizarre sights I have ever seen! the last few days, they are nearly over and under each other atm (tomorrow morn) and more closer together, very peculiar sight indeed - C is still brighter and flashier with top billing, but B is a very interesting brooding diffuse ghostly creature indeed, its like a shadow or a dark grey silhouette cut out of a comet come loose. Both are similar in magnitude, and similar in a lot of ways to how they looked to me sat morn, at a guess, but dark sky better with a gleaming sharpish lustre to them, didnt get that far with obs - oh well will treasure that view for sure :thumbsup: hope to get another day maybe soon :)

[meade expert]

All

I attach a pic taken with a canon 350D at prime focus of an ED80 piggybacked on a classic Lx200 10 inch.
2mins ,unguided ,iso 800 of Fragment B of the SW comet.
Taken 4am Sunday 28/5/06 at Jerrara Dam (NSW).
Temp was 6 deg C !:)

[h0ughy]

thats fantastic Joe, you have enough field of view to get both on with the ed80, please please try again

[meade expert]

Thanks

Still trying to get both on same field!
Spent 5.30pm on the 27/5/06 till 5.30am on the 28/5/06 taking deepsky images at Jerrara Dam so I was fairly tired by the time the comet was up.
Didn't have drive to persist at 4am....next time!:astron:

[fringe_dweller]

Joe that is very very nice indeed! nice long tail there, fairly deep shot for 2 min too! - cant beat dark sites for imaging hey :) thanks for posting dude!

[CometGuy]

From This morning. This time with the 300D (modified) and 100mm f2.8 lens and 10 x 3 minutes at ISO400 from Bayside Brisbane. Tommorrow the B and C components will be in line, should be cool to see one comet in front of another.


Terry

[[1ponders]]

Wow, great shot Terry. That looks awesome. Might have to get my lazy behind out of bed tomorrow and give it a go again.

[h0ughy]

wow excellent shot Terry, love it.

We have had fog just about every morning and clouds the other mornings. I hope its clear tomorrow but they are predicting rain.

[meade expert]

All

Stitched 2 images of SW comet from my collection taken 27-28th May taken about same time although seperately of the B+C frags. Stitched together in canon photostitch .
Background still needs a little work!
:D

[fringe_dweller]

cheers Terry! another beauty! :thumbsup: taken while you tucked up nice and cosy asleep I assume as well - I am seriously impressed by all these automated set ups out there now - image while you sleep! amazing, now we just need robots to send to work in our stead and we will be really laughing :)
I would like to be able to say 'I took this photo while I was asleep' ..one day ;)
ahh I see I got the days wrong on the alignment - whoops- tomorrow morning it is.
Well I'm with Houghy, the weather gods (and the moon) have really stuffed up most of this apparitition for us here, oh well cant win them all! the summer ones seem to be our forte' down here for sure. May appears to accursed for this region now, I will forever dread comets that peak in May.
Well looking at the weather for the next few days/week that is practically the end of 73P for me - might have another squiz at them with the scope when they fit in a low power telescope view.
Cant really say I have totally completely enjoyed this comet, as I have hardly seen it, and it has been a major disruption to normal life, sheer blinkin torture really, with not much to show. First bright comet in several years we didnt get to image, even once, for us too. I'm in a mixed mind on this one, from a personal experience point of view.

[h0ughy]

:2thumbs: :2thumbs: :clap:

[fringe_dweller]

Looking very good Mead Expert!
I have a very small complaint tho, maybe a resize would be a good idea, its works good in firefox with auto resize to screen, but in safari its too big, dimension wise dude.

[h0ughy]

Gee get a life fringy:D :P , I havent one thats why I use IE works fine for that, I am thankful that an image has been taken! BTW its raining here now. Fingers crossed for the morning Eh!:help:

[fringe_dweller]

I dont have a life Dave, thats why I frequent this forum :P , dont get me wrong mate, I am always glad that out of the 20 million ppl in this country, and the billion? in the southern hemisphere, a handful of people bother to image these beauties :)

[h0ughy]

well there, I am not the only freak on the corner, you are welcome to wear my rubber duck!;) :D

On a lighter note I looked at the position of the comet for the next few days, see post above with chart:thumbsup:

Um the people number frighten me. On as lighter note, some dimwit asked Energy Australia to install a street light immedately to my sothern view that was dark, its not now ,floods my backyard:sadeyes:

[CometGuy]

Kearn,

Very funny! Sue (my wife) and I got a good laugh out your posts and I think I'll seriously consider the robot-at-work thing :)

Well I'm seriously thinking of getting the Astrograph out tonight...

Terry

[fringe_dweller]

thanks :ashamed: :lol: and Welcome to IIS Sue!! :welcome:


:prey: :scared2: I hope your serious Terry, coz that would be very nice indeed :)

[RAJAH235]

Hey Joe, nice pic/s... :D L.

[CometGuy]

Another shot from this morning, this time a 9.5 degree wide crop from the original 6 x 3 minute ISO400 image + modified 300D + 100mm FL f2.8 lens.

[iceman]

Stunning! Well done Terry.

[h0ughy]

beautiful, through the binos this morning the tails looked a lot shorter than what you have captured there Terry, they are on their way to pass below Dheneb!

[Lester]

Love that shot Terry,

Wonder if I can get it from S.A

[RB]

Here's my effort from this morning.
It was indeed a beautiful sight.

[fringe_dweller]

:bowdown: Absolutely wonderful shots Terry and Andrew, what an amazing sight!
Cant imagine that scene being repeated anytime soon LOL a one off as they say. For some reason they remind me of caught in mid flight arrows?
Thanks for those fellas! :) you made a cloud bound southerner very happy.
gee their fading/receding very fast arent they!

[gaa_ian]

It is amazing to see how quickly the direction of the tails has changed !

[iceman]

How high does it get and what's the best time to view?

[Astroman]

more images of the duo here...>>> http://www.fg-kometen.de/pix/73P_e.htm <<<

[sparrow_34]

I have attached a couple of screendumps from SkyTools. The Sky Simulation eyepiece view is showing the fov with my 20X80 AOE LW's.

The other attachment shows the comet reaching 30 degress Alt from just after 4.00 am in Sydney.

Cheers

[iceman]

Thanks for that Sparrow.. i'm contemplating getting up tomorrow morning to image Uranus and Neptune. Might have a go at the comet while i'm there.

[h0ughy]

Mike I praise your optimism, but looking at the weather gods chart you might be pushing it a little? We are expecting rain tomorrow all day, and most of weekend, however if it goes by the way the week went it was cloudy then went come hours before sunrise.

RB's and Comet man's images are truly inspiring, hope to see them in coming issues of S&S and AS&T!

Have you a collection of planets for the year yet? (aside topic)

Looking through my new binos this morning I found the tails to be right in line with each other almost, its an awesome sight, I am glad I have seen it.

[fringe_dweller]

New Binoc's!! do tell h0ughy, what did ya get? will we see a review? :)

should of said this earlier, Some trivia info for total newcomers to comet observing: what we are seeing with the daily positioning of fragments in relation to each other atm, and particularly this morning gone (june 1st), is the result of the earth crossing the orbital plane of the comet, viewing it edge on so to speak - never seen it so well illustrated visually!, although anomalous tails (antitails ect.) can also demonstrate that well.

[h0ughy]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=10404
try that Fringy!:P

[gaa_ian]

I will have to get up in the morning now to see this !

[fringe_dweller]

LOL gotchya ;) good choice :-)

[norm]

Hi All,

I know this may sound lazy and dumb, but can someone tell me what direction/time/angle to view the comet.

Is it NE around 4am 30 degrees or am I completely out?

Thanks :shrug:

[fringe_dweller]

rises just a bee's whisker south of due east Norm, at 2:30 am and swings to the e/n/e (like the ecliptic) with component C reaching an altitude of around 40 degrees by 5:30 am (for here at ~35 south in SA)
Sparrow posted a handy chart on previous page :)
Both fragments/components are in now getting slightly fainter and smaller each passing day - with C atm in the low 7's of mag and B fainter in the higher 7's of magnitude.

[fringe_dweller]

here's a reduced for d/l (160kb) quicktime movie made with SNP showing the position of comet/fragments at each day @ 5:30 am for 35southish, covering dates starting back at 28th may (to illustrate orbital crossing - blue line comets orbit) to 8th of june (finish)
http://southern-x.org/so_x/73p/73p-sw3may28june8.mov
when I select on it, after d/l, I can use the wheel on my mouse to show each jerky movement of a day in freeze frames.

[tornado33]

Hi al
I managed to squeeze in a shot of the brightest fragment with Bert's 300mm lens as it peeked out between the house and the TV antenna just before dawn.
4x5 mins ISO400 UHCS and UV/IR filter. Id been imaging the Helix beforehand and left the nebula filter in place for the comet. This is a crop as the TV antenna and house appera in the full frame shot.
Scott