ASTRO: Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) imaged at 0:50 UT Nov 22, 2006.
Image is made from ten 45-second exposures with an SBIG STL-1301E thru a
20-inch F/8.1 RC Cass. Field of view is about 15x15 arc minutes. This comet
continues to fade, but it was easy to see visually in a 8-inch F/6 Dob that
my friends and I were using. We also had our 6-in Astrophysics refractor on
the comet and there were a few other scopes around including a C-9.25, and a
JMI 12.5-inch NGT. We finally had a clear night in Binghamton NY with a nice
bright Milky Way stretched across the sky until the clouds came in again
around 1am local time. It's pretty easy to get low temps on a CCD camera
when the air temp is -5C.
George N
|