FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Comet Swan Exit?

[ketelsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi All-

I was able to get out and image Comet Swan last night with my 11" Newt and
Canon 20Da camera.  A LOT fainter than 2 weeks ago when it looked quite
spectacular, even visible naked eye.

Last night, from the west side of the Tucson Mountains from near the
Desert Museum, here is what she has become:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Swan%2012_13Nov%20SM.jpg

Nearly 2 weeks ago, from near the base of Kitt Peak and the same setup:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Swan%2026_27Oct%20SM.jpg

A cropped, stretched version of just the tail:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Swan%20tail%2026_27Oct%20SM.jpg

And an animated GIF file, showing an hour's worth of motion:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Swan.gif

All base exposures were 90 seconds, followed by a dark of the same
exposure.  You can plainly see it was in outburst earlier - it was clearly
visible to the naked eye then and the tail easily visible in binoculars. 
The comet itself was barely visible in binoculars last night, and the tail
virtually non-existant even in the images...

-Dean
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