Comet SWAN appears to have suffered a bit of a downturn,

I have observed about 0.5 mag decline in 2 days.

The lightcurve is erratic, as it experienced a surge around April 26, so maybe it is settling down after this.

The coma appearance is flattened, “hammerhead shark” a feature that I have often seen in comets that eventually disintegrate.

Only time will tell how long this comet holds on for.

Hopefully northerners get a chance at observing it.

Cheers,

Michael Mattiazzo

 

From: baa-comet@simplelists.com <baa-comet@simplelists.com> On Behalf Of Ronan Newman
Sent: Tuesday, 5 May 2020 7:44 PM
To: baa-comet@simplelists.com
Subject: Re: [BAA Comets]

 

Hi Sorry for interrupting. But is Comet Swan disintegrating, just saw this.

 

Regards 

 

Ronan

 

On Tue 5 May 2020, 07:16 Nick James, <ndj@nickdjames.com> wrote:

Denis,

My image from last night (May 4.9) in poor conditions also shows this
sunward bar of material:

http://www.nickdjames.com/Comets/2020/2019y4_20200504_2141_ndj.jpg

It is around 25 arcsec long and looks as if it doesn't exactly point
back to the photocentre of component B. This bar was faintly in evidence
on May 2.9 and is clear in Martin's image of May 4.2.

As Richard noted this sunward bar is probably composed of many small
fragments any one of which could suddenly and briefly brighten as we saw
on May 2.

I know we have the distraction of the very nice C/2020 F8 (SWAN) on the
way but it is definitely worth spending time imaging this comet as it
heads towards perihelion. This will be challenging as the elongation
decreases but many professional and large remote telescopes won't be
able to follow it so our observations will be a particularly important
piece of the puzzle.

Nick.


On 05/05/2020 00:29, denis buczynski - buczynski8166 at btinternet.com
(via baa-comet list) wrote:
> Nick/all,
> Attached is an image of this comet taken this evening in bright moonlight.The comet has changed its appearence with the main bright "nucleus, component B" further down the tail and not situated at the head of the of the comet, as it was last week. There does seem to be an enhancement of material forward of the component B, which is the only definite condensation visible.No other definite condensations can be seen in this image, although there are hints of small accumulations within the tail material. I am not sure if the position of component B being further down the tail is an effect of perspective or if the enhancement of material forward of component B is real. This is an ever changing and evolving comet for sure. What will this comet's perihelion passage bring?
> Denis buczynski
> To unsubscribe from this list please go to http://archives.simplelists.com
>

To unsubscribe from this list please go to http://archives.simplelists.com

To unsubscribe from this list please go to http://archives.simplelists.com

To unsubscribe from this list please go to http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=IKMprbbngf8N2pSQBA01655zC4b8KEbb