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Date: 08 Nov 2006 05:45:48
From: Dave
Subject: ?fading Swan?
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Tried to find Swan again, after a week of cloudy weather. According to the
map it should now be leftward of the Hercules keystone. However after 20
minutes we gave up. Is it now fading and hard to locate? Certainly had
little trouble last week.
Dave
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Date: 08 Nov 2006 20:21:31
From: Willie R. Meghar
Subject: Re: ?fading Swan?
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"Dave" wrote:
>Tried to find Swan again, after a week of cloudy weather. According to the
>map it should now be leftward of the Hercules keystone. However after 20
>minutes we gave up. Is it now fading and hard to locate? Certainly had
>little trouble last week.
Comet SWAN has indeed faded a bit; but it's still easy to see with
binoculars from a reasonably dark location. (It helps to know exactly
where the comet is in the sky.)
A rising moon seen through a window was my first indication that
clouds had dissipated tonight. So, with the moon fairly low in the
sky I went out with a pair of 7x50 binoculars and quickly found the
comet. This time the comet appeared to be fainter than M13.
I exchanged the 7x50s for 20x80s and took another look. Naturally,
M13 and the comet were better seen with the 20x80s; but still, no tail
was noticed.
These observations were made without allowing much time for dark
adaptation, and with the moon low in the eastern sky. Thin clouds may
or may not have been present in the line of sight; but I suspect they
were absent.
Willie R. Meghar
Observational Notes at:
http://meghar.blogspot.com/
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