73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 observations

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This comet is expected to reach 3rd of 4th magnitude at it's best in May when it's closest to the Earth and it'll reach perihelion (closest to the Sun) in June, only the "C" fragment of it (considered to be the main component of the comet) will be visible naked-eyes and the "B" fragment will be visible in binoculars at around 6th magnitude. The third bright fragment "G" is expected to be visible in amateur-sized small telescopes at around 8th or 9th magnitude during it's peak. Nowadays "B" fragment also seems to be as bright as the "C" fragment according to some sources.

25 March 2006 :

73/P-C

This is my first faint comet after 2 years of long-waiting. This day was our first star-party wherein around 20 of us were gathered and it also included a professional astronomer too whom we had invited, Kavalur Observatory's ex-director for 4 years.

Just got a glimpse of fragment "C" of the comet because of using a small aperture. Star-hopped from Arcturus in Bootes for around 4 degrees. Observation was done with a 4.5-inch reflector. The comet was at the limit of visibility in a 4.5-inch and was only visible after some staring in the eyepiece. Had to use both direct and averted vision, altering between the two. It was a fuzzy and diffuse blur of light, somewhat circular in shape, of maybe around 11th magnitude (because it was at the theoretical limit of a 4.5-inch for a fuzzy object). I didn't see any central condensation in the coma. There was a 2-star asterism right below it consisting of the stars TYC1479-01011-1 at magnitude 11.41 and TYC1479-01050-1 at magnitude 11.93. The stars were just 1 or 2 arc minutes from each other (all data from Cartes du Ciel software). They produced a collective glow and the comet was nearly the same brightness of the glow of the asterism, but slightly fainter. Hoping to see the "C" and "B" fragment before it gets brighter.

22 April 2006 :

This was the first time I saw this comet in a dark-sky under good condition. I could see both the fragments, "C" being easier and brighter than "B". Also attempted fragment "G" also because it was in the field of view of "B", but could nowhere see it. These two brightest ones are currently estimated to be 9th magnitude.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION : "C" & "B" look nearly alike in both appearance and brightness. However, the
biggest difference separating them is their nucleus. "C" had a very bright and distinct nucleus which was perfectly point-like but very slightly stretched. Whereas B didn't have any. In "B" there was no difference between the tail and the coma and both seemed to merge into each other well. However because of the nucleus of "C" we could differentiate both the coma from the tail. They were strikingly similar except for the fact that B was much more diffuse.

TAIL OBSERVATION : Using averted vision the tails of both the comets appeared longer than with direct vision. The tails were broader at the ends, on the side opposite to the coma region. In other words, I could see these "fan-tails".

MOVEMENT : Both of them were close to reference stars. This was maybe around 11pm. Then when I remembered it around 2 am or so, I looked at it again. They had moved noticeably, somewhat one-fourth the field of view (fov), the fov was around 1 degree. I haven't estimated the direction of their movement or even their speed. I hope to do it in the next observing session very soon. I also plan to estimate their magnitudes by the various techniques used. However, this time my aim was only to observe these two comets and I've done that successfully.