Comet C/2006 M4 Swan
by Vern on Sep.27, 2006, under Astronomy, Comets
Below is an image of comet C/2006 M4 (Swan) taken this morning between 5:39 and 5:54 MDT. Image was shot through varying layers of clouds. The coma surrounding the center nucleus appears about 3+ arc-min across though its difficult to judge because of the clouds. A faint tail was seen extending 10+ arc minutes to the NNW. Hopefully, I’ll get some clearer skies this weekend and get a better image.
Equipment used Celestron Nexstar C11 telescope, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, Astrovid Stellacam II video camera. Approximately 15 minutes of images taken with 4 sec integration (128 frames), medium gamma, and 7/14 gain. Images aligned and stacked with Registax3. Location was Louisville, CO, temperature was 44°F, no wind, 53% humidity, poor transparency, thin clouds, partly cloudy sky (70% cover), and turbulence 6/10.
September 27th, 2006 on 5:23 pm
Hi Vern,
Obviously you had much better luck than I did at finding it.I kept getting fog banks rolling over the sky but,was still able to observe other objects.Good job!!!.
September 28th, 2006 on 5:04 pm
With averted vision I can see the tail pull away in the one o’clock direction ;^D
I didn’t know about this comet, I’ll have to see if it’s do-able from here. The nucleus appears very bright. Is it because of 15 minutes “exposure”?
–peter
September 28th, 2006 on 6:36 pm
With the Stellacam II and 11 inch scope, 8th magnitude is very bright! This is a not an easy comet to spot, you’ll probably need 80mm aperature or more I suspect. The comet is quite low the horizon as well so there is a time factor. From here in Colorado, about 5:20 to 5:35am is ideal. Much earlier its lost in the muck, much later and the sky is too bright. Good luck!
Weather is looking great for us this weekend. Moon sets just before 11pm Friday, so we’ll should get about 6 hours in dark, clear skies. I’m getting scope packed up now for a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Pawnee Grasslands tomorrow afternoon.
September 28th, 2006 on 7:24 pm
I should note that the comet is now being reported as mag 7. Didn’t seem that bright to me, but I didn’t have a clear sky — I was observing through cloud layers. I should have some good views of it this weekend. The comet is quite condensed so the core is small which helps.