73P/ Schwassmann - Wachmann 3

Hi Guys

Managed to observe fragments B and C tonight despite the moonlight. I spent quite a while with the 20X80 but no luck so brought out the dob and managed B easily, C a little harder.

Did not see any easily noticable tail on either from my location.

Nice work Trevor!! There very small arent they?

I seen tails on both fragments last night however i did have very good trans and the moon was lower in the sky within clouds before dawn.

Keep me informed of your thoughts and impressions of this comet. Will have another look at these in a few hours time.

What size is your Dob?

Clear skies

Hi Martin

The Dob is an 8" F5. I must say if it was not for spending a good bit of time on the 20X80's learning the star patterns in the area I would have found both fragments much harder to locate. I am looking forward to following these over the coming few weeks.

I wish i had those binos of yours Trevor

I am looking forward very much to this comets close earth approach. Hopefully we wont need any scopes/binos to see it. As long as it doesnt fizzle out.

This is so exciting...a real SL9 type comet at our front door! I heard the original body before fragmentation in 1995 is approx 1.3 - 1.5 Km in dia so all these 40+ fragments must be pretty small and delicate. Im sure many more fragments will be discovered shortly, some will fizzle out but lets hope either B or C will go into a large outburst!!! Good job they are not going to hit us

As they say...the only thing predictable about a comet is its unpredictability.

Clear skies

Send down the 16" to me and I will send the binoculars by return post.. :lol:

FYI - from Eric Christensen (COD G96). Component M seems to have split... I didn't attach the astrometry - its very lengthy.



<quote>
Below is my latest report to CBAT, primarily just astrometry of various
fragments. I don't have anything new to add to the discussions about B
and G; however take note below about component M.

Eric

---

Below is astrometry from G96 on April 07, 08 and 09. Images were obtained
by Rik Hill, and measured by myself. Images were unfiltered 120-second
integrations.

Component M appears to have split. I measured 2 distinct condensations,
designated 6GC35FA and 6GC35F3 below. They are separated by approximately
4 arcseconds, along a line defined by PA 30/210. Both condensations are
of approximately equal brightness.

Regards,

Eric J. Christensen

---

COD G96
OBS R. E. Hill
TEL 1.5-m reflector + CCD
NET UCAC2
AC2 sixty@lpl.arizona.edu, eric@lpl.arizona.edu
MEA E. J. Christensen
ACK 06Apr07-09.neos.mrpt