The 1995 return started off as expected, but dramatically changed and became MUCH more interesting in August of that year when the nucleus was observed to split into4 fragments, accompanied by a surge in brightness that made the comet an easy naked eye object.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. October 19, 1995.
20 minutes exposure, Fuji 400 film.
300mm f/2.8 Pentax.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. October 19, 1995.
10 minutes exposure, Fuji 400 film.
300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.
At this stage the comet was magnitude 6.4 and visible to the naked eye. A faint, narrow gas tail is visible in the images running down the centre of the broader dust tail.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. October 19, 1995.
15 minutes exposure, Fuji 400 film.
300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. October 19, 1995.
20 minutes exposure, Fuji 400 film.
300mm f/6 newtonian at prime focus.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. October 29, 1995.
40 minutes exposure, Fuji 400 film.
5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.
The comet peaked in brightness during early October, and then began a slow fading as it receded from both the Sun and the Earth. However, before it faded too much, the Earth passed through the plane of the comet's orbit. This, combined with the Earth-comet-Sun geometry, resulted in one final intriguing display.
On November 22, the comet displayed a very pronounced anti-tail and presented one of the most unusual comet sights I have seen in over 40 years of comet observing. Both the normal tail and the anti-tail were similar brightness, with the coma in the middle of the 2. It made the comet look very strange!
