Mike B.
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/24/05
Posts: 2113
Loc: Louisiana
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I posted this in the big Comet Holmes thread over in the Planetary and Solar System Observing forum, but I think it is worthy enough to post here, too:
On the night of Nov 8th I had a window of clear skies for about 2.5 hrs. I took advantage of it and observed and imaged Comet Holmes.
To me the comet seemed brighter in my 10x50 binos than my previous observation on the 6th, but perhaps the transparency was better was the reason. About as bright as Delta Perseus, but I'm not very good at estimating mags, so take that as you will.
In the 5.5" scope, the pseudo-nucleus was not visible. Some rays were visible barely on the southern side and mottling in the central condensation.
After observing Holmes visually for awhile, I started out imaging the comet with my 8" F/4 scope and a DSI Pro. I realized that I could probably get away with imaging with two cameras simultaneously, since my DSLR was on my 400mm F/6 refractor, which was still riding piggyback on the 8". I rigged Meade's Envisage software to image and guide my Atlas mount and started DSLRFocus to shoot some 3 minute subs with the DSLR. Check out the results:
Comet Holmes, Nov 9, 2007, 4:22UT.
The top inset image is with the DSI Pro and the bottom inset shows a negative view of the main image. Note that this looks like a tail disconnection event was in progress! Anyone have confirming images or observations? I was cut short by clouds and I only got 13x180 sec sub-images, so the exposure was too short to get the tail well.
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Clear skies!
Mike B.
My Astrophotos
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Edited by Mike B. (11/12/07 10:39 AM)
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Marc PK
sage
Reged: 10/02/04
Posts: 281
Loc: London, UK
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Very impressive - it looks pretty conclusive. It will be good to get independent verification - hopefully someone else can confirm? It won't be me, it's drizzling with rain here! 
Marc
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Celestron C11 / Astro-Phyiscs 1200 GTO
Website: www.solarworlds.co.uk
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Mike B.
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/24/05
Posts: 2113
Loc: Louisiana
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Quote:
Very impressive - it looks pretty conclusive. It will be good to get independent verification - hopefully someone else can confirm? It won't be me, it's drizzling with rain here!
Marc
Marc, Spaceweather is reporting that there was a disconnection event! There are two images linked there at the moment. I'm sure there will be more coming soon. 
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Clear skies!
Mike B.
My Astrophotos
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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Great shot!!
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Good Seeing!
Mark
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cocobolo
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/27/07
Posts: 1550
Loc: british columbia, canada
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Great shot! Check out Jack Newton's pic on spaceweather. Doesn't look like he had any trouble with clouds!! Keith
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Tonk
Postmaster
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 6100
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Hi Mike - I got fed up with everyone getting Holmes pics and me just getting clouds - so I took a 4 day break to a very dark place and got a 8 hour unbroken imaging session completed last Thursday/Friday and yes a tail disconnect was certianly in progress. I have 7 hours also from last night/this morning which shows the detached tail slowly drifting away across the stars of Melotte 20. All still to process properly but the roughs looked good
Can't see your pic right now - the link appears to be broken/down
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Televue 85/TRF-2008 field flattener, Meade LX200 10", Manfrotto 055SSB tripod/410 geared head/AstroTrac TT320X-AG/056 3D head, GM-8/Gemini, 10 Micron 1000 HPS, Canon 40D (unmodded), Canon 450D (modded w/Astronomiks clip-ins - UV/IR, OWB), Coronado SM60/Lunt B1200/WO diagonal, Baader Herschel Wedge
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Mike B.
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/24/05
Posts: 2113
Loc: Louisiana
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Quote:
Hi Mike - I got fed up with everyone getting Holmes pics and me just getting clouds - so I took a 4 day break to a very dark place and got a 8 hour unbroken imaging session completed last Thursday/Friday and yes a tail disconnect was certianly in progress. I have 7 hours also from last night/this morning which shows the detached tail slowly drifting away across the stars of Melotte 20. All still to process properly but the roughs looked good
Can't see your pic right now - the link appears to be broken/down
Tonk, I can't wait to see your results! Lucky you got a break to image it!
The weather here is no longer cooperating. I could not take any deep images of the comet this past weekend. My last session was limited to 90 sec exposures because of bad tranparency.
Sorry about the link being down. The place where I host my images is totally down right now. It happened about 30 to 45 minutes ago and they are still not back up. Bummer!
Edit: I changed the link to my little web server running at home. It should be viewable now.
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Clear skies!
Mike B.
My Astrophotos
My Astrobin Page
My New Blog Page
Edited by Mike B. (11/12/07 10:37 AM)
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M111
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/28/06
Posts: 851
Loc: Western MA
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Look at the reworked pic by Hiro on my thread called "17P/Holmes @ 135mm". It shows a disconnected tail.
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Brendan
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Andrew Welsh
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Reged: 03/28/06
Posts: 2571
Loc: Rochester, NY
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Quote:
Hi Mike - I got fed up with everyone getting Holmes pics and me just getting clouds - so I took a 4 day break to a very dark place and got a 8 hour unbroken imaging session completed last Thursday/Friday and yes a tail disconnect was certianly in progress.
Haha that explains it. I thought Tonk, the comet-DSLR master, would be on Comet Holmes like a fat lady on a pork chop!
Can't wait to see your take on it either. Your sigma-clip-median-combine routine (or whatever you name it) is going to be tested with this really, really slow moving comet. I processed mine like a regular DSO. I could've taken more, but it was my one clear moonless night a month in these parts (and it wasn't even so moonless, still on the last 1/4!)
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LX200 8" classic, f/10, Meade eq. wedge, .63x FF/FR
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Tonk
Postmaster
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 6100
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Quote:
Your sigma-clip-median-combine routine (or whatever you name it) is going to be tested with this really, really slow moving comet.
Er yes - well spotted - I'm scratching my head - this one moves too slow and is too big to use any sieving technique. Also comet alignment is problematic when the coma is overexposed - and I have 78 x 6 minutes exposures to sort out. This might take a while to do properly - I've posted a rough here Motion blurred version over on the humungus Observing Forum thread
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Televue 85/TRF-2008 field flattener, Meade LX200 10", Manfrotto 055SSB tripod/410 geared head/AstroTrac TT320X-AG/056 3D head, GM-8/Gemini, 10 Micron 1000 HPS, Canon 40D (unmodded), Canon 450D (modded w/Astronomiks clip-ins - UV/IR, OWB), Coronado SM60/Lunt B1200/WO diagonal, Baader Herschel Wedge
Leeds Sky Clock Ripon Sky Clock
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