Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II
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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. @ 30º24' 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 30º24' 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 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II
Hello List. Had it just passed a nearby large gravitational body?The earth ;-)A nice picture of the comet one day after fragmentation from me:http://www.sternhimmel-ueber-ulm.de/scratch/C2006M4d.jpgThomasNew Millenium ObservatoryDer Sternhimmel über Ulmhttp://www.sternhimmel-ueber-ulm.de -Original Message- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:08:00 +0200 Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II From: E.P. Grondine [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. @ 30º24' 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 30º24' 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 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Do You Yahoo
Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II
Hi, The preliminary orbit published in July said Comet 2006 M4 would make the big turn around the Sun on September 28, 2006, at a distance of only 0.132 AU or 12,225,000 miles. The orbit has since been corrected and the closest approach to the Sun was 0.793 AU. The closest approach to the Earth was yesterday! But it was at a distance of 0.999 AU. Not exactly a close call! And hardly likely to be the cause of a gravitational breakup event. You can see its orbit in an animated movie at the JPL Small-Body Database. The movie can be progressed forward and backward at will (you have to have Java to run the applet): http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?ID=dK06M040;orb=1;cov=0 Rob's Green Monster is a one-time pleasure; it's leaving the Solar System, never to return. It's in a hyperbolic orbit, probably because whatever deflected it inward toward the Sun gave it an extra good push. The comet came in below the ecliptic plane, crossed the plane August 19-20, and is now above it. I spent three nights finally getting a sight of the comet in early October, from deep inside the Midwest Murk. As for my chances of actually SEEING it now...? Anyone who tried to watch Wednesday's World Series Game (rained out) has a perfect picture of my observing conditions! I live exactly 26.5 miles from the stadium in a little river town on the east shore of the Mississippi River The river is bordered by sheer limestone bluffs 150-250 feet high, while the west shore (in Missouri) is a flood plain and the much lower bluffs there are 25-30 miles inland from the river (the river was that wide once, carrying the glacial melt). There is a park is 235 feet up, on the very verge of the river, not lit, and has an outlook spur with a clear view. Skyglow is south and behind, and the land to the northwest contains no city of any size for hundreds of miles. Before you blithely believe the naked-eye or pair of binoculars propaganda, that is only true if you are lucky enough to be somewhere that is truly DARK, completely and totally dark, and such spots are rare today. I spent three nights in a row up there in early October. The first with good binoculars and had no luck. The second with good BIG binoculars, tripod and camera, and had no luck. Finally, I disassembled a large astronomical telescope, stuffed it into my car, re-assembled it in the park, set it up and waited for dark. It's a nice comet, worth the work. But I hope nobody thinks they're going to set out into the backyard with their birdwatching bino's and take a peek, unless they happen to live in a pool of inky blackness. You can tell that Doug is really happy to see it; he was having a tougher time than I was, as his location is not a favorable one. I just hope that Rob has gotten a good look at his own comet! Me, I hope the comet continues to fragment (a not unlikely prospect) and becomes a true naked eye object of magnitude 3 or even 2! Then, even those birdwatching bino's in the backyard will be enough! Sterling K. Webb --- - Original Message - From: E.P. Grondine [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:08 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. @ 30º24' 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
Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II
whatever deflected it inward toward the Sun gave it an extra good push. The comet came in below the ecliptic plane, crossed the plane August 19-20, and is now above it. I spent three nights finally getting a sight of the comet in early October, from deep inside the Midwest Murk. As for my chances of actually SEEING it now...? Anyone who tried to watch Wednesday's World Series Game (rained out) has a perfect picture of my observing conditions! I live exactly 26.5 miles from the stadium in a little river town on the east shore of the Mississippi River The river is bordered by sheer limestone bluffs 150-250 feet high, while the west shore (in Missouri) is a flood plain and the much lower bluffs there are 25-30 miles inland from the river (the river was that wide once, carrying the glacial melt). There is a park is 235 feet up, on the very verge of the river, not lit, and has an outlook spur with a clear view. Skyglow is south and behind, and the land to the northwest contains no city of any size for hundreds of miles. Before you blithely believe the naked-eye or pair of binoculars propaganda, that is only true if you are lucky enough to be somewhere that is truly DARK, completely and totally dark, and such spots are rare today. I spent three nights in a row up there in early October. The first with good binoculars and had no luck. The second with good BIG binoculars, tripod and camera, and had no luck. Finally, I disassembled a large astronomical telescope, stuffed it into my car, re-assembled it in the park, set it up and waited for dark. It's a nice comet, worth the work. But I hope nobody thinks they're going to set out into the backyard with their birdwatching bino's and take a peek, unless they happen to live in a pool of inky blackness. You can tell that Doug is really happy to see it; he was having a tougher time than I was, as his location is not a favorable one. I just hope that Rob has gotten a good look at his own comet! Me, I hope the comet continues to fragment (a not unlikely prospect) and becomes a true naked eye object of magnitude 3 or even 2! Then, even those birdwatching bino's in the backyard will be enough! Sterling K. Webb --- - Original Message - From: E.P. Grondine [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:08 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. @ 30º24' 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
[meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II
Hello Listees, Rob's eerie green Comet has just exploded majestically as it has made time receding from the Sun. This is fascinating and this is big news for Comet people. OK, exploded is dramatic - 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 6 or so performers 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. @ 30º24' 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 23 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 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 slightly more impressive in the binoculars, though. This (Rob's) 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 30º24' 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 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
[meteorite-list] Rob's Comet's Exciting Explosion Part II
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. @ 30º24' 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.jpgThe 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 = 6.0The 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 = 5.6If 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.jpgThe "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 underoptimal 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 PMSubject: 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 30º24' 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 __ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
