mttafire
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 1114
Loc: midwest
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I was out for appox 1/2 hour tonight. First nice dark sky ina while let alone no clouds. I guess i didnt realize but comet holmes is VERY easy to see naked eye and i still a nice bino object. Used my 8x45s mostly. Good views of M31 and the Auriga clusters. most of my time was focused on Holmes.
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God Bless America
Binocular astronomy
for me ONLY.
8x45 Garretts
15x70 Skymasters
2 eyes!
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GardnerPacificCA
sage
Reged: 07/26/07
Posts: 235
Loc: California, USA
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same here...at first I was disappointed as clouds formed a patchwork that tightened up erasing the night sky and then like magic they dissolved or just went away revealing the night sky above me...very enjoyable viewing...except I had to stop for dinner... 
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All the best,
Gardner
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stargazertony
sage
Reged: 09/25/07
Posts: 222
Loc: Apple Valley, CA.
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I still haven't let up on Holmes. I'm out there every clear night and it is my first target everytime I set up. It has been a facinating thing to watch and everyone I know has now seen it !!! My favorite view of Holmes is by far through my binoculars. 
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Anthony Rogers
Discovery PDHQ 12.5" Dob.
Meade LX-3 8" SCT
Orion Apex 4" Mak
Orion 4.5" imaging newt
Hutech 1a modified Canon EOS 350d
20X80 binoculars
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hallelujah
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/14/06
Posts: 3980
Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
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Holmes was my very first comet find (found it before I knew anything about it), and I am also impressed by the fact that it has stayed with us for so long.
Although Holmes is much fainter now, it has been a wonderful sight in the sky.
I have looked at this comet with all my binoculars and it is a fascination each time.
Psalm 19:1a
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Nikon7x35GoldSentinel 9.3*(2)+Pentax8x40PCFWPII+MinoxBD10x44BP+FujinonFMTRSX7x50
Nikon10x50GoldSentinel+Pentax12x50 5.5*Japan+Pentax12x50PCFWPII+Vixen8x56Geoma
Fujinon12x60HB+Pentax16x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWPII
Tento20x60USSR+Orion12x63MiniGiant+Spectrum I 20x65+Orion15x70LittleGiant II
Orion20x70LittleGiant II+Orion16x80Giant+Orion30x80MEGAView+Barska30x80X-Trail
BurgessOptical20x90SeriesII
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Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 17931
Loc: Oort Cloud 9
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Holmes has now outlasted two lunar cycles - quite an impressive outburst.
It lies just beyond the realm of naked eye visibility under my NELM 4.5 skies. But it is easily detected in the 15x70 binocular and 8x42 binocular - faint in the former, very faint in the latter.
The key, under light polluted skies, is transparency. On nights of excellent transparency (like 3 nights ago), I saw a good bit of detail within the coma with my 15x70 binocular and averted vision. It was much brighter because of the good contrast with the dark background sky. On most nights, my background is "milky" in appearance from scattered light pollution, but on truly dry/transparent nights, Holmes seems much brighter and obvious. I would love to see it from truly *dark* skies. It's huge, and when seeing the full extent of the coma, it must be ENORMOUS. Even in my light polluted skies, the faintest extended regions of the coma easily made it the same size as the nearly-full moon.
I'm glad to be a part of this historic outburst and I look forward to the next dark moon cycle coming, to see what Holmes has in store. Remember, this is a comet with a history of undergoing TWO outbursts during one apparition. 
Regards and clear skies,
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
☄ ⒼⒶⓁⒶⒸⓉⒾⒸ ⓈⓉⓄⓃⒺ ☞ www.galactic-stone.com
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mttafire
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 1114
Loc: midwest
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Quote:
Holmes has now outlasted two lunar cycles - quite an impressive outburst.
It lies just beyond the realm of naked eye visibility under my NELM 4.5 skies. But it is easily detected in the 15x70 binocular and 8x42 binocular - faint in the former, very faint in the latter.
The key, under light polluted skies, is transparency. On nights of excellent transparency (like 3 nights ago), I saw a good bit of detail within the coma with my 15x70 binocular and averted vision. It was much brighter because of the good contrast with the dark background sky. On most nights, my background is "milky" in appearance from scattered light pollution, but on truly dry/transparent nights, Holmes seems much brighter and obvious. I would love to see it from truly *dark* skies. It's huge, and when seeing the full extent of the coma, it must be ENORMOUS. Even in my light polluted skies, the faintest extended regions of the coma easily made it the same size as the nearly-full moon.
I'm glad to be a part of this historic outburst and I look forward to the next dark moon cycle coming, to see what Holmes has in store. Remember, this is a comet with a history of undergoing TWO outbursts during one apparition.
Regards and clear skies,
MikeG
Agreed.
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God Bless America
Binocular astronomy
for me ONLY.
8x45 Garretts
15x70 Skymasters
2 eyes!
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Andy42420
member
Reged: 12/11/06
Posts: 52
Loc: Tayside, Scotland, UK.
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Went out for a quick look the other night and seen the comet through my 10x50s, its still a pleasing sight even in small binoculars. Does anyone know how long it will stay bright enough to see in binoculars.
Thanks
Andy.
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Strathspey 25x100IF
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StarStuff1
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/01/07
Posts: 2805
Loc: South of the Mason-Dixon Line
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Hi Andy,
No one can know for sure how long a comet like this will remain visible in binoculars. A few nights ago Holmes was not naked eye visible from my home. On a good night I can enjoy 5th mag stars but between the Moon and the neighbors Christmas light decorations it was not there. The last two nights were nice and clear. The Moon was out of the way early in the evening and Holmes was naked eye visible. It was really a treat in 8X32 and 10X50 binocs.
Let us all enjoy this one while we can. And oh yeah, Comet Tuttle will soon be here, too!
Terry
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Tools that make objects very far away appear much closer than they actually are.
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Mark9473
Postmaster
Reged: 07/21/05
Posts: 6459
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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I saw Holmes again last night. I was actually surprised I could still spot it naked eye the instant I came out of the house under my mag 5-ish sky. It helped of course that it was near the zenith.
It was a nice sight in my 7x50s and 20x80s. Looked a bit like a squid to me... Stunning that it has grown so big! Is it over 1 degree yet?
I was sceptical when I read S&T claim in their newsletter that Holmes is still the easiest object to spot after the Pleiades. Now I'd have to agree.
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Mark
Leica 8x20; Nikon 7x35; Vixen 8x42; Orion 15x63; Docter 15x60
WO Megrez II 80 FD / APM 107mm f/6.5 / Mewlon 210 on DM-6 + Berlebach Planet
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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 2085
Loc: Blue Ridge, GA, USA
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The other night was 6+ mag skies and Holmes was a pretty impressive naked eye sight. Best view was with my 10x42 binoculars - it's just too big for anything with more power than that. Also framing it with the Alpha Perseii cluster really makes for one of the best binoculars views in some time. As the coma attenuates more stars "bleed" through it, and that gives it a neat, ethereal quality. This has truly been a nice fall treat!
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edcannon
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/19/03
Posts: 693
Loc: Austin, Texas
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Tonight from about two blocks from my apartment, I found that I was able to see it without binoculars with averted vision. It's bigger and still brighter than M31. It was more distinct with the 12x60 than with the 8x42.
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Ed Cannon - Austin, Texas, USA
Bushnell H2O 8x42, Celestron Skymaster 12x60
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hallelujah
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/14/06
Posts: 3980
Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
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I enjoyed looking at Holmes last night through my Orion 15x70mm.
The skies were clearer than I have seen them in a long time, and I was encouraged to bring out my 30x80mm's.
I was also reminded that I would still love to have more aperture, 110mm to be exact. 
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Nikon7x35GoldSentinel 9.3*(2)+Pentax8x40PCFWPII+MinoxBD10x44BP+FujinonFMTRSX7x50
Nikon10x50GoldSentinel+Pentax12x50 5.5*Japan+Pentax12x50PCFWPII+Vixen8x56Geoma
Fujinon12x60HB+Pentax16x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWPII
Tento20x60USSR+Orion12x63MiniGiant+Spectrum I 20x65+Orion15x70LittleGiant II
Orion20x70LittleGiant II+Orion16x80Giant+Orion30x80MEGAView+Barska30x80X-Trail
BurgessOptical20x90SeriesII
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ronharper
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 2065
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Uh, not exactly. But, with the skating rink season over, and my sky back to pretty good, I saw what had to be it tonight about 3 degrees SE of epsilon Per, as a dim glow about a degree across. Thank you, 7x50.
No, not the nearby California nebula (which I've never seen, by the way), it's still small town suburbia after all. Since its incredible October debut, Holmes has moved scarcely 15 degrees. Everything about this comet was weird.
Anybody else look for it lately?
Ron
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hallelujah
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/14/06
Posts: 3980
Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
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I've looked at it, within the past week or so, with a couple of different binoculars, usually start out with the 15x70mm. It is small and faint but still visible.
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Nikon7x35GoldSentinel 9.3*(2)+Pentax8x40PCFWPII+MinoxBD10x44BP+FujinonFMTRSX7x50
Nikon10x50GoldSentinel+Pentax12x50 5.5*Japan+Pentax12x50PCFWPII+Vixen8x56Geoma
Fujinon12x60HB+Pentax16x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWP+Pentax20x60PCFWPII
Tento20x60USSR+Orion12x63MiniGiant+Spectrum I 20x65+Orion15x70LittleGiant II
Orion20x70LittleGiant II+Orion16x80Giant+Orion30x80MEGAView+Barska30x80X-Trail
BurgessOptical20x90SeriesII
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Mark9473
Postmaster
Reged: 07/21/05
Posts: 6459
Loc: 51°N 4°E
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After a full day of heavy rain yesterday, it miraculously cleared in the evening and the sky was better than usual for my site. I'd estimate I was close to mag 5.8 - 6.
I looked for Holmes in my 7x50s and 8,5x44 but couldn't quite be certain I saw it. Just perhaps a vaguely brighter 'background' or so it seemed.
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Mark
Leica 8x20; Nikon 7x35; Vixen 8x42; Orion 15x63; Docter 15x60
WO Megrez II 80 FD / APM 107mm f/6.5 / Mewlon 210 on DM-6 + Berlebach Planet
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ronharper
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 2065
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Thanks for the feedback. The view is confused by a busy starfield. It's just a vague 1 degree broad brightening of the background. I checked S&T's chart, and confirmed its position is where I said.
Ron
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CESDewar
GorillAstronomer
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 2085
Loc: Blue Ridge, GA, USA
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Quote:
It's just a vague 1 degree broad brightening of the background. I checked S&T's chart, and confirmed its position is where I said.
Ron
Hmmmmm.......
Comet Holmes is supposedly now more than 2° across and getting very faint. In fact I just downloaded and updated Starry Nights to see what it was reporting as the magnitude:
19.65
Ok, either you saw it and Starry Nights's magnitude is ridiculously off, or you didn't see it. I think we can agree that it can't be mag 19.65 and visible in binoculars
Of course I don't consider Starry Nights to be the authority here (if I did, many important stars have disappeared from the known universe without explanation  )
But in any event, let's hear some more about this - anyone else got other observations/authorities on what the current visibility is of Holmes?
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ronharper
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 2065
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Well, the Fujinon 7x50 is a pretty darned good bino. 19.65, I feel so proud! Only seeing one degree of it actually cuts what I saw to more like 21. And, over a degree, or 13 million square arc sec, thats about 38 mag/square arcsec. It really is a wonder I could see it at all. When you're hot...
Seriously, it's just plain there. Go take a look.
Ron
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Mr. Bill
Postmaster
Reged: 02/09/05
Posts: 5219
Loc: Northeastern Cal
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Quote:
Hmmmmm.......
Comet Holmes is supposedly now more than 2° across and getting very faint. In fact I just downloaded and updated Starry Nights to see what it was reporting as the magnitude:
19.65
Ok, either you saw it and Starry Nights's magnitude is ridiculously off, or you didn't see it. I think we can agree that it can't be mag 19.65 and visible in binoculars
Probably mean 19.65 mag/sq arc.sec...M33 is 22.8.
Assuming that the comet is circular and 2 degrees across, the integrated magnitude would be about 9.5.
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The night sky is the palette....
My optics are the brushes....
The Milky Way is the masterpiece
Member IDA
Edited by Mr. Bill (03/11/08 02:20 AM)
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edwincjones
Close Enough
Reged: 04/10/04
Posts: 7980
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I saw Holmes (I think) in my 25x150s last night. It is just a smudge (maybe 1/8-1/4 degree in diameter) near where the California nebula should be.
Seeing was poor with the moon at maybe mag 3.5 skies.
edj
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