Comet Swan brightens; naked eye visible

Just seen this myself on spaceweather. Cloudy crap and heaving with rain for 3 days here but I have a look for it tonight if we get a break

Heya Atma...Can this be seen from the southern hemi???

Thundercheeks, I think it is a northern hemisphere comet. [link to www.skyhound.com]

IM so sry its not Southern :( :( Its north, right were the Constellation Bootes is

Great find Atma,

I thought Comet Swan was heading away from the sun now? How can it brighten that much if this is the case?

Wrong, comet swan is moving away from the EARTH and headed to the sun. Closest appraoch to the sun is coming up. Also, it is possible that a gas jet could have explodes on the comet and brightened it as well for mearly a few hours or so. What ever the case is, I predict comet swan to brighten some more in the next few days

Bummer....K...Thanx dude...

wait that was another day..

My bad, its moving passed the earth basically but the outburst is for sure some kind of explosive gases of some sort reflecting the sunlight onto earth, very cool indeed

C/2006 M4 (SWAN)
Perihelion: 2006 September 28
Maximum magnitude about 6

Whats your lattitude?

Thanks for the correction 292,

I look forward to this latest celestial firework show.

27° 28' S 153° 2' E

I think that is wrong too according to this.

Comet Swan has already made its pass around the sun and is barreling out of the solar system. Use this link to see a map of its path over the next few weeks [link to www.aerith.net] . It will make its closest approach to the Earth near the end of this month. It will be millions of miles in the distance, however. Around Halloween, Comet SWAN can be seen passing near the Great Hercules Star Cluster, M13 and should be a real treat to observe through binoculars. By Thanksgiving, it will be located near the bright star Altair, however it will also be much dimmer as it will be well outside our family of planets on its journey to the edge of forever.

[link to www.universetoday.com]

"When the comet shall run" - Nostradamus

Between the comet unexpectedly brightening and the Russian dude and Nostro-dumbass...i feel rather odd about the end of Oct...

The British Astronomy Association has an excellent comet page which shows which comets are visible where. It shows Comet Swan visible from 10 degrees North to 85 degrees North-
[link to www.ast.cam.ac.uk]

Interestingly, the BAA page calls this both an evening and an early morning comet. I haven't seen that elsewhere. Indeed, checking the whole sky chart for my area, it shows Comet Swan rising very low in the NE about a half hour before sunrise. Well into twilight, but with a bright enough comet, it could still be visible at that time-
[link to www.heavens-above.com]

Bottom line, you could give it a try spotting it early in the morning. For alot of us, that's not too far away. But surely evening viewing is best, unless that outburst is short lived and fades by then.

If this does turn out to be a sustained outburst, that makes it a naked eye comet for several days, it would be the best comet since Hale-Bopp in 1998. That's a long time!

Also, for those who haven't heard, the path of this comet is such that it is believed to be an intersteller comet. Not from our solar system. Not in orbit around our Sun. Just passing through. Which is relatively rare for a comet you see in the sky. And from the pictures, this celestial vagabond seems to be quite a beauty aw well.

Thanks for the heads up, I'm gonna try and spot this thing later today!

Was thinking the same thing 380,

Although Hale-Bopp got to a magnitude 2 says Wikipedia - seems like it would have been a better candidate.

Time will tell I suppose.

So...it is just passing thru...well then why is it so mapped and so much information on it if the comet never came thru the first time?

ON all the star charts is it? Really? All for a comet that has never been thru before EVER!

Isn't that kinda odd?

179,

What will really be odd is if Swan continues to brighten in the days ahead.

Isn't there some prophecy about a comet being able to be seen for 7 days before the shit hitting the fan? Too late for references for that, off to slumber.

Im going to guess..if it has not been recorded as observed some time in the past then it must be from another solar system.. could it not be a part of a larger Comet..some tails are millions of miles long and must contain all sorts of things, just a guess

Kachina! Hopi Indians are right .Prepare for imminent doom

YES ! there is. There is a prophecy that tell us , if we will see a bright cross on a sky for 7 days it will be a sign that the changes are IMMININET. Now we have to wait and see if the Swan will be seen as cross shaped with naked eye for all to see

Well they are WRONG.. Comet Hale Bopp in March and April of 1997 reached a eak Magnitude of -1.72 (Nearly -2) It is on a negative magnitude which makes this extremely bright. The sun is -28, moon -12 Hale Bopp -2

2 is just far too disappointing to say on such a great comet!

I'm telling you the SWAN comet looks BLUE and not GREEN like some of the doctored photos have shown. The picture on spaceweather definitley looks blue and it may indeed be the Blue Kachina of indian lore. Fedorovskiy predicted a comet strike on October 28th. Maybe this is the one.

Do you agree the comet looks blue?

she is here

and the red one is with her

blue and green...love and devotion.

Well, I just had at least 15 different people look at the comet without being prompted and every single one agrees the comet is BLUE.

blue

While other comets have been deemed blue in color they were more green than blue. This SWAN comet looks like the real deal. Here is the significance of the Blue Kachina...

[link to www.wolflodge.org]

Plus the fact that these prophecies have not come to pass and negates any prophetic attached to comets in the past. Being this is the "next" blue comet, this makes it a potential candidate, no?