Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  Solar system body or event
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Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN, early morning, Not what I Expected, Dan Bartlett
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Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN, early morning, Not what I Expected

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Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN, early morning, Not what I Expected, Dan Bartlett
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Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN, early morning, Not what I Expected

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Hi All,

This is the best I could do after two very early mornings to catch this beast. The past two mornings were perfect, weather-wise. Superb seeing as well as transparency, I couldn't have asked for more! This comet is just too low in the sky as twilight starts to wake the world up, Comet 2020 F8 SWAN is still less than 10 degrees up off the treeline. Mind you, I've moved to a remote-remote site to setup, I'm on top of a 7500 foot mountain top, surrounded by lakes and the horizon barely stands higher than 5 degrees(usually less) in most cases.

I was hoping to see the expansive tail, the Southern Hemisphere folks saw, rise first above the horizon as I watched comet West in 1975 do over the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. No such luck here and no such tail. Again, I had exceptional skies both mornings. I'll be heading to the same location later this week to see comet SWAN in the evening sky as it closes in to perihelion.

Star to the left is Algol!

Best skies to everyone.

Dan

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Comet C/2020 F8 SWAN, early morning, Not what I Expected, Dan Bartlett