I had an absolutely awesome view of comet SWAN last night. It's was my first look, and I've never seen a comet this bright since I started the hobby a few years ago. When I started viewing about 8pm eastern time, the 9th magnitude type M red giant HIP78016 was nestled just inside the northern edge of the halo, making the comet look like it had two "cores." I put my IDAS V3 nebular filter on one of my low power eyepieces and the core and halo popped out even better. I had a lot of light pollution and the tail was barely visible. It appears from the photos that I have seen that it is rather dim. After 30 minutes or so it moved away from HIP78016 and a higher power view showed me stars below magnitude 11.5 in the immediate area. Four stars formed a "trapezium" with the star in one corner being a dim visual double. It was nice to watch the comet move through this trapezium. I also took a look through my smaller refractors for a wider field of view, and the comet had quite a few type K and M giants keeping it company last night.
David E
David E
