[meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Oct 26 12:08:05 2006
Message-ID: <20061026160800.82203.qmail_at_web36903.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi Doug -

I wonder why Rob's come frgamented up at this
particular time. Where was Rob's comet at in terms of
the plane of the ecliptic? Had it just passed a nearby
large gravitational body?

good hunting,
Ed

--- MexicoDoug <MexicoDoug_at_aim.com> wrote:

> Hello Listees,
>
> Rob's green Comet has exploded. This is fascinating
> and this is big news for Comet people. OK, I should
> say it had an unexpected outburst and just got 5-10
> times brighter while it was just on its way out and
> ready to wane quickly. I'm sure if we were on the
> comet that would be a mean explosion. It now kicks
> the butt of SW3 in brightness. As the Moon is
> getting stronger, Wednesday night (tonight, and
> maybe one more night) is basically the last chance
> unless something else fantastic happens like just
> did to this comet 10 hours ago or so.
> Congratulations, Rob, your Comet just turned into
> one of the top 5 of the last decade!
>
> The outburst is nice! Here's a comparison with a
> normal consumer digital camera nights of , widest
> angle setting (35mm equivalent zoom setting of a
> 35-200). Lat. _at_ 30?24' 20:50PM EDT (same time, 120
> min after Sunset, and place both days).
> Transparency was a little worse the second night,
> but a great Milky Way sky both times.
>
> www.diogenite.com/061024-25.jpg
>
> The top is the evening of 2006 Oct 24.06 which is:
> C/2006 M4 (SWAN) 2006 Oct. 24.04 UT: m1=5.9, Dia.=
> 8', DC=7 above average transparency vis. LM = 6.0
>
> The bottom is the evening of 2006 Oct 24.06 which
> is:
> C/2006 M4 (SWAN) 2006 Oct. 25.04 UT: m1=4.4, Dia.=
> 8', DC=8 average transparency vis. LM = 5.6
>
> If you want to see the magnitudes of the comparison
> stars in the side-by-side photo above, they here is
> a star chart showing the positions of the comet both
> nights and magnitudes of the stars.:
> www.diogenite.com/mag.jpg
>
> The "C" shaped constellation is Corona Borealis,
> just under Hercules and headed the Strongman's way.
> You can see how much the comet moved in two night
> and guess very accurately based on that where it
> will be tonight. It is not hard to find with
> binoculars. The comet is WNW.
>
> The camera and photos were the same, however it was
> somewhat colder the first night and better
> transparency, so the raw photos presented would have
> to be adjusted - better to just compare to their
> respective comparison stars.
>
> Outburst +1.5 magnitude brightening!! First comet I
> have seen naked eye since Kohoutek, thanks to the
> dark sky location. Still, C/2004 Q2 Machholz was
> more impressive in the binoculars, though. This
> comet looked like a bright galaxy through the 10x50
> consumer binoculars and during the most steady view
> through them, a short tail could be seen - but only
> under
> optimal conditions. The size of the comet reported
> was estimated in a 89mm Mak-Cassegrain telescope.
>
> Best wishes, Doug
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 6:03 PM
> Subject: Re: 2006 M4 (SWAN) dramatic brightening
>
>
> > > Easily visible in Nautical twilight? I just saw
> M4 last time from a
> > > dark sky, and it was similar to M13 in
> magnitude. Is something
> > > changing - this bright magnitude sounds too good
> to be true? Can
> > > someone else kindly confirm as it would be worth
> a 100 miles trip
> > > now?
> > >
> > > I'll upload a photo of Corona Borealis and the
> comet from a section
> > > of wide angle 35mm equivalent of the normal 135
> film camera. It
> > > isn't good, but the comet is perceptible and
> green 2006 Oct 24.04 UT.
> > > (Taken last night EDT about 8:52 PM, 15 seconds
> exposure)
> > > www.diogenite.com/061024-06UT.JPG (should have
> been saved as
> > > 061024-04, not -06) Latitude 30?24' Vis. LM 6.
> > >
> > > The lower two stars of the "C" of Corona
> Borealis point to the comet
> > > which is dim but the greenest speck on the
> image, half way from the
> > > most counterclockwise star of CrB to the upper
> right corner of the
> > > image.
> > >
> > > I'm not comparing this to the nice photos
> recently posted on the
> > > internet, but posting it to to compare the
> > > magnitude...photographically at least... less
> than 20 hours ago....
> > >
> > > Thanks kindly, Doug
> >
> >
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>
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>


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Received on Thu 26 Oct 2006 12:08:00 PM PDT