Comet Swan takes a dive
Well, I missed the great flare-up of Comet Swan this week. It was briefly visible to the naked eye, but after a night or two faded back to the fuzzball that had been expected.
The comet was unusual in that it was green. Those with long enough memories may remember that Comet Hyukatake was blue, and that while it had a blue ion tail, comet Hale Bopp was essentially whitish. But Swan contains an abnormal amount of cyanogen (CN) and diatomic carbon (C2), both of which glow green in sunlight. It must have been quite a sight.
Last night I went down to Madison County (yes, the one with the bridges and the birthplace of John Wayne) to see what I could see from truly dark skies. The comet had faded to the point where I was unable to find it in 10x50 binoculars (of course, if I'd thought to bring a star chart it might have helped!).
Actually, I should have been able to pick it out despite the fading. Denise and I went out to the Domes (Ashton Observatory, run by our astronomy group, the Des Moines Astronomical Society) tonight. While I wasn't in the right place while any of the telescopes were pointing at Comet Swan (drat!), I was able (with a little help) to pick it up in my binos. I didn't notice any color at all; it looked essentially like a small and very dense globular cluster. Still, I should have been able to find it in better skies last night!
Not that Swan qualifies, but on the average, Great Comets come once every decade or so. After a long drought, we had a double header in the mid- '90's with Hyukatake in 1995 and Hale Bopp in 1996. We're due for another one soon. But comets can't be predicted, and who knows? Despite a lifelong interest in astronomy, what with false alarms (Kohoutek and Austin) followed by wary journalists failing to get the word out about two Great Comets that really did come in their wake (Bennett and West), I never actually got to see a naked-eye comet until the age of 46, when I saw Hyukatake. When the next one will come, nobody can tell.
Hope it's soon. I wish I'd had a better look at this one.
The comet was unusual in that it was green. Those with long enough memories may remember that Comet Hyukatake was blue, and that while it had a blue ion tail, comet Hale Bopp was essentially whitish. But Swan contains an abnormal amount of cyanogen (CN) and diatomic carbon (C2), both of which glow green in sunlight. It must have been quite a sight.
Last night I went down to Madison County (yes, the one with the bridges and the birthplace of John Wayne) to see what I could see from truly dark skies. The comet had faded to the point where I was unable to find it in 10x50 binoculars (of course, if I'd thought to bring a star chart it might have helped!).
Actually, I should have been able to pick it out despite the fading. Denise and I went out to the Domes (Ashton Observatory, run by our astronomy group, the Des Moines Astronomical Society) tonight. While I wasn't in the right place while any of the telescopes were pointing at Comet Swan (drat!), I was able (with a little help) to pick it up in my binos. I didn't notice any color at all; it looked essentially like a small and very dense globular cluster. Still, I should have been able to find it in better skies last night!
Not that Swan qualifies, but on the average, Great Comets come once every decade or so. After a long drought, we had a double header in the mid- '90's with Hyukatake in 1995 and Hale Bopp in 1996. We're due for another one soon. But comets can't be predicted, and who knows? Despite a lifelong interest in astronomy, what with false alarms (Kohoutek and Austin) followed by wary journalists failing to get the word out about two Great Comets that really did come in their wake (Bennett and West), I never actually got to see a naked-eye comet until the age of 46, when I saw Hyukatake. When the next one will come, nobody can tell.
Hope it's soon. I wish I'd had a better look at this one.
Comments