Ziggy943
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/11/06
Posts: 827
Loc: SLC, UT
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Great shots that really capture the visual of the comet. Thank you.
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Siegfried
4" Mak
160mm F8 TEC (born 1-18-2007, 27 lbs, 45.5" long), on AP900
150mm F17.5 (D&G lens) (first light 6-7-2008)
9" F/14.8 Alvan Clark (1915), on Byers 812
14.25 F/5.5 Newt in a roll off observatory
Others, that have come and gone
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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Quote:
Report from Maryland, south of Baltimore, from Saturday night (10/27/2007)
Naked eye view: the comet was clearly visible to the naked eye as an "extra star" in Perseus with a distinct yellow coloring. May have been slightly "fuzzy" like the Orion Nebula, but to a small degree.
Binocular view in 10x50 binoculars: Comet Holmes showed up as a large, round ball of golden light, almost like a huge, unresolved globular star cluster.
View at 92x in my Orion XT8i: A lot of detail can be seen. The outer circular halo was strangely "bubble-like" in that the outer edges were slightly brighter than the inner region. The outer halo rapidly brightened in the core region to a strong yellow glow. Within the core, there was a wedge or fan-shaped bright feature that was offset from the center, as it was trailing away from the comet. At the very heart of the comet, dead center with respect to the outer halo, lies an almost star-like nucleus, which must be the comet itself (or the last shroud of bright dust and gas that hides it from view.) A stunning sight!
Matthew, very nice report, thanks for posting!!
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Good Seeing!
Mark
Orion 12" XTi f/4.9
VERY old Edmund 6" f/8 reflector
Assorted binoculars
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photonovore
Moonatic
Reged: 12/24/04
Posts: 2472
Loc: tacoma wa
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Finally clear skies and time combined to allow me to have a chance at observing this comet. 6"f/8 achromat, mags 40, 87, 140x. My log entry: "Comet Holmes: Plain stellar-like core condensation, secondary zone offset then much larger nebulous zone centered on central cond. Within the secondary zone, observed uneven illumination of a nature which suggests fragmentation; 3 or four brighter areas of irregular extent, rather discreet. Also central cond. seemed to increase in contrast using a #12 wratten while decreasing in contrast using wratten 82, 80a."
Upon looking through the observing reports this AM, i think what i was seeing were hints of the contrast variances documented by an imager from Russia as shown in his images in this thread in the imaging forum. At any rate, the secondary area is certainly not uniformly luminous, even visually.
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Mardi
4" achromat, ETX-70.
Whitepeak Lunar Observatory Website
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Bill Weir
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 893
Loc: Metchosin (Victoria), Canada
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Last night I was out at Pearson College again using the 25" to observe the comet. The transparency wasn't the best but then again 25 inches can burrow through a lot. At a point when clouds moved into the area as the comet slowly dimmed the view I was give was essentially this image sequence on Spaceweather in reverse. http://spaceweather.com/
At first I could see the entire structure of the comet right out to the edge of the fainter outer halo. As the outer faint halo dimmed and disappeared so did a large amount of the glow that fills in the area within the first halo. What remained looked somewhat like a wagon wheel with the central hub being the stellar pseudo nucleus and the very bright fan shaped coma. As things continued to dim the outer ring began to thin moving towards its outer edge until it disappeared. At the same time the stellar pseudo nucleus dimmed and blurred until it merged into the glow of the central fan. The fan continued to hold in there for some time until it too disappeared. I looked up to see that the cloud cover was very dense. I was amazed at how well it had shone through the clouds.
It was cool to see visually where the brightness densities of this comet are, without the need to do all sorts of manipulation in image editing software. (not that, that too isn't cool)
As an aside, while that area was obscured, the Moon was clear so I swung the 25" over to it. I have a question. Are there 7 craterlets in Plato? : ) Also the crater Petavius with its central mountains and straight rima, looked like a Google Earth image of the Emerald City, with the Yellow Brick Road running into it.
Bill
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6'' Orion SkyQuest
12.5'' f/5 Custom Truss Dob
William Optics 80mm ZenithStar II ED Doublet
f/5 25" newtonian on a giant GEM, any time I want
Observing sessions grand total for 2007, 171.
So far in 2008, 115
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Tuugii
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 522
Loc: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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As I had expected, today morning the size of the comet was so big that it was barely fitting in the field of view of 21"!
yesterday was pretty clear. The comet had fadenned a little bit I guess, because I notice that each night I need more ISO and more exposure to get similar light frames. I think it is more appropriate to say that the comet's surface brightness is decreasing very fast, since the shell is expanding with a great velocity.
Tuugii
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telescope=time machine...
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SleepIsWrong
sage
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 355
Loc: Baltimore, MD
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Here's a shot taken last night from Baltimore. It's a combo of two images taken with a C14 + ST8XME - bias/darkflat processed, then run through the wavelet processing task in AIP4WIN. There is a faint outer coma that is visible in the image but not in this presentation, which has been stretched to show detail near the nucleus.
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14" Celestron CGE (two of 'em)
Soupy, orange, mag 4. skies (woof!)
Meade ETX125 (guidescope)
ST9-XE, ST8-XME
ssp-3 photometer
Mira Pro & ProScript, AIP4Win, MaxIm DL, TheSky6 Pro
Way too many white squares in the graphic, below
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SleepIsWrong
sage
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 355
Loc: Baltimore, MD
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Here's a shot taken last night from Baltimore. It's a combo of two images taken with a C14 + ST8XME - bias/darkflat processed, then run through the wavelet processing task in AIP4WIN. There is a faint outer coma that is visible in the image but not in this presentation, which has been stretched to show detail near the nucleus.
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14" Celestron CGE (two of 'em)
Soupy, orange, mag 4. skies (woof!)
Meade ETX125 (guidescope)
ST9-XE, ST8-XME
ssp-3 photometer
Mira Pro & ProScript, AIP4Win, MaxIm DL, TheSky6 Pro
Way too many white squares in the graphic, below
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matt
Vendor (Scopemania)
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 10022
Loc: Chaville, France
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I FINALLY had a break in the clouds to see it (lasted about 15 minutes).
Conditions are bad, but the features seemed very smooth.
Mike- do you know if the dark spot at top right of the nucleus on your image is actual detail or an artefact?
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Matt
CI700 mount with various scopes on top.
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2122
Loc: San Diego, CA
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Quote:
Mike- do you know if the dark spot at top right of the nucleus on your image is actual detail or an artefact?
It is real (and visible in a 6-inch scope).
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
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SleepIsWrong
sage
Reged: 12/07/05
Posts: 355
Loc: Baltimore, MD
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Matt:
That's really hard to say with any certainty but I think it is real. There is a hint of it in the original images, but certainly not strong. The wavelet processing task removes the low-frequency variation that dominates the image, but there's always the opportunity for artifacts. I also got a similar image using a FFT > low-pass butterworth filter > FFT^-1. My initial guess would be that it's real but I'm certainly willing to be shown otherwise. If I get some time this evening I might try some sort of radial density filter to see if I get the same result. It's clear! I'm heading out to the 'scope!
Mike
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14" Celestron CGE (two of 'em)
Soupy, orange, mag 4. skies (woof!)
Meade ETX125 (guidescope)
ST9-XE, ST8-XME
ssp-3 photometer
Mira Pro & ProScript, AIP4Win, MaxIm DL, TheSky6 Pro
Way too many white squares in the graphic, below
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imeridian
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/22/07
Posts: 893
Loc: South Central PA
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I have just had my first view tonight, not fully dark yet. It appears as though there are two distinct nuclei now as compared to my view lastnight, where I saw only one.
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Zhumell 10" Dobsonian
Don't know how to shorten links in posts? Click Here!
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OldDeadOne
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/09/06
Posts: 1083
Loc: West Virginia
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It is still in the Perseus constellation?
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Bert O'Dell
PROUD GOTO USER
LX200 10" Classic
various meade plossi's eyepieces
Konig MX70 40mm" eyepiece
11mm T6
7mm T1
Insane under a full moon
I duck from Iron Skillets
Charleston WV clearsky
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2122
Loc: San Diego, CA
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Yes, it is still in Perseus.
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
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imeridian
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/22/07
Posts: 893
Loc: South Central PA
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Quote:
It is still in the Perseus constellation?
Yes, it'll be in Perseus for far longer than this outburst/brightening will probably last.
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Zhumell 10" Dobsonian
Don't know how to shorten links in posts? Click Here!
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ursamajor
member
Reged: 07/24/07
Posts: 88
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Either this comet has split in two or their is a bright star shining through the dust near the nucleus! Any comments?
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Using a goto scope is like fishing with hand grenades...
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Jim Rosenstock
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/14/05
Posts: 2402
Loc: MD, south of the DC Nebula
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The comet has now obviously broken into two (poossibly 3) pieces.
Get out and look.
Jim
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QUESTION AUTHORITY!
"errr....sez who??"
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2122
Loc: San Diego, CA
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I suspected as much last night. The effect I observed in my scope resulting in two "blinking" nuclei. Focus on one and it disappears, but the other pops out with averted vision, switch your attention and the reverse occurs.
It was rather maddening...
The fact that it is still visible a day later suggests the nucleus may have fragmented. Watch for a while and see if the second nucleus tracks with the comet or moves steadily away from it over the course of an hour or two. If it stays put with respect to the rest of the comet, it is likely a fragment.
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
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MikeS
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/06/04
Posts: 916
Loc: Quakertown Pennsylvania
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I saw the two distinct dots as well, quite exciting! I am anxious to see if it is truly is a splitting of the nuclei. If anyone has the answer, please let us know!
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Mike Snisky
8" F5 Newtonian/Moonlite CR2
Orion Sirius EQ-G Mount
Orion 100mm F6 Achro on SVP w Intelliscope
Orion 100mm ED on LXD55 Mount
Denkmeier Standards
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ursamajor
member
Reged: 07/24/07
Posts: 88
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I think I see a tiny segment near the "northern nucleus" as well...
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Using a goto scope is like fishing with hand grenades...
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cildarith
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 2122
Loc: San Diego, CA
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Just a word of caution regarding a possible nucleus fragmentation: in just a few minutes we will hit 00:00 UT, and the comet's position will be
03 49.24 +50 23.8
Plugging these coordinates into DSS gives this image. The comet is currently sitting on a pair of stars of magnitudes 9 and 11. Do not mistake these stars for comet fragments.
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Eric
6" f/6 Parks Newtonian
10x50 Bushnell Binocs
CN Sketch Gallery
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