Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14687
Loc: Hurricane Alley
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I SWEAR THE COMET IS GETTING BRIGHTER under magnification! If you can, go look tonight. I would roughly estimate the overall size of the entire object is about 1/5th the diameter of the Moon seen at 24x in a 45 degree AFOV eyepiece. The bright inner nucleus (pseudonucleus actually) seems brighter and more distinct tonight compared to last night. Perhaps it's undergoing another outburst or brightening cycle, or maybe it's my imagination or lack of lunar interference. But I saw it last night before the Moon rose and it's definitely brighter tonight. Naked eye magnitude is still right about equal with Delta Persei (~3), but the coma and nucleus seem brighter. A point of light or field star could be seen through comet with averted vision.
This was in the 50/600mm Pentax f/12 achro with .965" KK Ortho 25mm (24x) and .965" Vixen Ortho 6mm (100x) - under very transparent skies with good seeing and NELM ~4.7
No lunar interference.
It's very fun to follow it's progress. I have now seen it for 6 nights in a row! 
And now I hope the good observing weather holds up until I get my mount fixed and my bigger refractor back online. 
Clear dark skies!
MikeG
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Michael Gilmer - Member of the Meteoritical Society & Collector of Falling Stars.
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Buy/Sell/Trade Meteorites, Moon Rocks, Mars Rocks, & 35 different falls and types!
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SabiaJD
sage
Reged: 02/20/05
Posts: 429
Loc: Clarks Summit, PA
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Two good nights observing and imaging Comet Holmes. Good views withy 10 f/5 Mak-Newt scope. The inner coma yellow color shows up with a 11 mm TV.
Best of the night is with 20 inch f/5 and 35mm. WOW what a view, the inner coma, dark areas, and the dense sections of the outer coma. Tonight before moon rise the extened coma also viewed with that scope.
Here are 15 x 8 second Registax wity 9.5 inch f/15 A. Clark. 25mm afocal projection with Nikon CoolPix 995 camera. Sunday Octber 29, 2007 UT
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John D. Sabia
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SabiaJD
sage
Reged: 02/20/05
Posts: 429
Loc: Clarks Summit, PA
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And one from tonight Monday October 30 2007 UT. Same scope and camera lens, 23 x 8 seconds
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John D. Sabia
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12581
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Well, I decided to go out, soreness and all. it was worth it. Easily seen right from my yard right outside the door. About 11:30 PM. Moon below the trees.
Comet is an obvious non-stellar object naked eye. Estimated brightness seemed slightly closer to Gamma Per than to Delta Per. A little brighter than delta.
I took out the 16x70 Fujinons. Needless to say, this was seen as an outstanding object.
Central pinpoint bright spot inside a very bright central core. Core maybe 25% of entire width. Pinpoint is offset to very north or NNW edge inside the bright core. Broad coma slightly wider around north side and a little less wide and flattened on south/SW side.
I didn't really perceive any color jumping out at me, but would say yellow-white.
Considering current condition, it hurt just to stand, and looking up while slightly bending my legs to get under a tripod mounted binocular was not comfortable at all. Spent only about 10 minutes outside, but glad I did.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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Dave M
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/03/04
Posts: 4519
Loc: N.E Ohio
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Quote:
I was talking to Dave Miller earlier tonight and was kind of torn between going to a decent spot to take advantage of the moonless window and not going. In the end, I figured I had to give it at least one shot from a dark sky, so I drove to Zepernick Wildlife Area, about 20 aerial miles east of Canton.
Here's the short version of tonight's report:
Big. B-I-G comet. Drive to dark skies and see it. Peace. Out. (for all those Jim Rome fans out there...)
Long version:
Oct 30.05 UT: m1 = 2.6, DC = 8, Dia = 8'...NE...Phillip J. Creed (New Alexander, OH) [First moonless viewing of the comet in the 25x100s. Words won't do it justice, but I'm an idiot, so I'll foolishly try. Sky NLM ~ 6.3, with occasional patches of cirrus.
The comet's continuous expansion, along with the now-moonless evening skies, made for an easily-visible outer coma of enormous size. In the 25x100s, the bright, inner coma now spans ~9', but the outer coma is now about 20' in diameter!
The "shadow arc" centered on the northeastern side for some reason didn't seem as prominent as it was the past two nights, but the bright SW-pointing fan emanating from the nucleus stood out better...hmmmm. The lack of definition between the inner and outer coma on the SW side that was noted last night was still visible.
The SW side of the outer coma had a curious visual feature; the tenuous glow seemed to stop abruptly around an 8th-mag star. I'm wondering if the star's brightness was enough to disrupt my averted vision (these binos can easily see stars past mag-12.0 from a sky like this) or if there's a little asymmetry with the coma. Based on previous photos, I'd assume it's my eyes playing a trick on me; but does anyone else notice this at at low-power in rich-field telescopes?]
Clear Skies,
Phil
Phil,
Here`s what i got after processing a few shots taken
tonight just before moon rise, had some thin cirrus
in the area also.
Meade 10" SCT / F6.3 (1575mm)
30 x 7 seconds ISO-1600
26 Dark frames, 30 Flats.
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Dave
Meade 16" F4.5 EQ Starfinder
Meade 10" SCT / Losmandy G11
Tak FSQ106ED
Canon 20D
SBig ST-4
http://www.spacew.com/gallery/DM
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Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
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I haven't been able to see the comet again since the 24th due foul smokes and then bad weather  . Scattered and passing clouds tonight. So I thought I'd quickly setup my 4-inch TV-102 Light Cup for a quick look. Well, there seemed to be less clouds after a while and the comet has gotten a heck of a lot bigger  . So I grab my DSLR and shot a few pics here.
Ron B[ee]
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5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO 
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO 
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob 
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Old Dinosaur
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/08/07
Posts: 839
Loc: Out in the sagebrush
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Check out 2 new photos at Spaceweather. Signs of a tail beginning to show.
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WRS Observatory
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 6784
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Well, just after midnight local time (0500 UT on October 30th, 2007), the comet was still pretty easy to see with the unaided eye still probably around magnitude 2.6. It was non-stellar but still quite small. In my 100mm f/6 at 25x, it showed the bright nearly circular inner coma and a very faint diffuse outer halo. Doing some timing measurements brought in a figure of about 8.4 arc minutes for the approximate diameter of the inner bright shell and perhaps 17 arc minutes for the outer halo, although the faintness and diffuse nature of the outer halo made estimates for its size rather difficult and only approximate at best. The inner shell appears to be getting somewhat ragged and more diffuse along its southern and western sides, with the nuclear condensation close to but not quite perfectly centered in the shell. Indeed, it now appears to be slightly to the west of the inner shell's geometric center. The inner shell showed the "annulus effect" at low to moderate powers, but at really high power, the effect seemed to be nearly absent. The brighter fan-like patch showed no clear structure, and might be a bit more symmetrical than on previous nights, centered roughly to the south-southwest of the nuclear condensation. The nuclear condensation itself appeared stellar even at 150x (and fairly faint), and was just inside of the outer edge of the brighter fan-like patch in the inner coma. Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
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John Wunderlin
Vendor - Spike-a Focusing Mask
Reged: 10/01/04
Posts: 351
Loc: Mineral Point, Wi
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Here's my latest shot hot off the press. Oct 30, 6:17UT. I increased my exposure to 10 seconds- I think it is dimming as it thins, but the overall brightness naked eye appears brighter to me.
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John Wunderlin
Vendor - Spike-a Focusing Mask
Empire Ranch Observatory
Iowa County Astronomers
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Tuugii
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 522
Loc: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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writing from the dome of 21". Just had 20min view through 34mm Meade EP. Definitely the object dimmed a lot, but its only the surface brightness; however the core is still burning bright as before.
I had also noticed a gap between the most outer shell and the inner coma. I see this aspects is clearly shown in these nice pictures. The last one from John is a nice one! 
Right now collecting some datas, will process and post them tomorrow morning.
BTW, does anyone know about the opbservations made in 1892? I wonder if we could compare the outbursts...
Tuugii
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telescope=time machine...
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akemag
sage
Reged: 10/26/07
Posts: 442
Loc: Sweden
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Finally clear skies tonight(at least according to the weather on tv, they cant be wrong?!?). I must admit that i´ve not been overly eager to get 17P/Holmes in my telescope. I figured that it would be just another pin-point star since it was stated that it hadnt got a tail. After reading this, i cant wait until tonight. Is it sort of a "historical" outburst?
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Celestron Omni XLT 120
10" GSO DOB
Bresser Skylux 70mm
5mm Ortho
6.5mm, 25mm, 32mm Plossl
3.6mm, 10mm, 25mm MA
20mm Erfle
4mm, 10mm, 12mm, 18mm RK20mm Kellner
8mm, 20mm Huygens
1.5-2x Barlow
Orange, Green, Variable Polarizing Moon filter
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Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 3579
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Quote:
I figured that it would be just another pin-point star since it was stated that it hadnt got a tail.
Yeah - don't forget that many comets only have large coma's (like this one) and still look spectacular. Shouldn't judge a comet by its (lack of) tail. Always look for yourself 
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Televue 85, GM-8/Gemini, Canon 10D
Coronado SM60/BF10, Baader Herschel Wedge
Leeds Sky Clock Ripon Sky Clock
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ForgottenMObject
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/11/04
Posts: 3585
Loc: Maryland, US
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Good observerations!
I was outside again last night, looking at Comet Holmes at 92x in my Orion XT8i. Some changes since last time:
- Comet is definitely larger! Wow, this is a big comet!
- The outer shell still has the annular ring appearance, with a rather sharp transition from the comet's glow to the darkness of space on the outer edge, and a somewhat dimming fade on the inside edge until the central region with the bright fan-shaped feature is reached.
- The southern edge of the outer halo is less distinct than before; it smears into the background sky with a gradual transition, while the other edges are harder and form the ring feature. I think this is a change from before, and I wonder if a tail does form if it will "smear outwards" from the southern side.
- The comet is not as yellow as before. While the yellow color is still evident in binoculars and to the naked eye, it is a very pale yellow at best in the telescope, while on Saturday night it was a much stronger yellow color.
What a fun comet!
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Matthew
IDA member
XT8i, 10x50 binoculars, lots of eyepieces
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BillP
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/26/06
Posts: 2244
Loc: Vienna, VA
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Dave,
Great shot! Glad you too this as last evening I was noticing how one edge of the extended halo was less distinct and a little distended (the top right portion in your photo). I moved the comet's core to the field stop of my eyepiece and by doing this was better able to make out the non-symmetry. I also thought it has a bit of a yellowish cast last evening which was the 1st time I've been able to notice any color.
-Bill
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250mm f/4.7 Orion XT10i Dobsonian
102mm f/8.0 Tak TSA Super-APO
66mm f/5.9 WO ZenithStar SD APO
40mm f/10 Coronado P.S.T.
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katodog
Supreme Grandmaster
Reged: 03/31/06
Posts: 2301
Loc: Carol Stream, Illinois
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Here's a few from last night. 12" SCT with Fuji S6000fd and 40mm plossl. Single jpg frames with different camera light settings.
30 second exposure, Tungsten
Comet 001
20 sec exposure, #3 Flourescent
Comet 002
20 seconds with #2 Flourescent
Comet 003
20 seconds at Auto light setting
Comet 004
The comet is getting dimmer, it seems, but not by much. It still looks pretty bright, and is still obvious naked-eye. Maybe if the astro Gods can shine on us for a day or two, we can get the added thrill of a tail. It's just not a comet without a tail.
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The only stupid question is the one that goes unasked
12" Starhopper / Coronado PST
Stellarvue 20x85mm Binocular / LXD75 Mount
Sigma APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM
Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 DC OS
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM
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Dave M
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/03/04
Posts: 4519
Loc: N.E Ohio
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Quote:
Dave,
Great shot! Glad you too this as last evening I was noticing how one edge of the extended halo was less distinct and a little distended (the top right portion in your photo). I moved the comet's core to the field stop of my eyepiece and by doing this was better able to make out the non-symmetry. I also thought it has a bit of a yellowish cast last evening which was the 1st time I've been able to notice any color.
-Bill
Thanks! Bill, i really should get another telescope view tonight myself after imaging again  , last good visual
was two nights ago through the 10" and Phil Creeds
25 x 100`s.
Here`s one more shot from last night.
Meade 10" / f6.3 (1575mm)
10 x 30 seconds @ ISO-200
10 Darks
10 Flats..
CS
Dave
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Dave
Meade 16" F4.5 EQ Starfinder
Meade 10" SCT / Losmandy G11
Tak FSQ106ED
Canon 20D
SBig ST-4
http://www.spacew.com/gallery/DM
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3379
Loc: In the doghouse.
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OK, here are the fruits of my labor, that is sneaking the big bino to work for a jaunt outside during the dinner break. As usual first rough sketch done on paper w/pencil, then re-drawn in PSP5. For lack of sounding profound, this comet is AWESOME! Despite visibly growing in size by the day the brightness seems to be holding, to my eyes.
BTW, there are some incredible photos and sketches on this thread. Thanks to everyone for keeping it alive and well.
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JasonŽ
Phlog
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John Wunderlin
Vendor - Spike-a Focusing Mask
Reged: 10/01/04
Posts: 351
Loc: Mineral Point, Wi
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I've been lucky to image every other night so far. Here is a size comparison using the same focal length. I stretched each image to make it easier to compare. These are from 3 raw frames.
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John Wunderlin
Vendor - Spike-a Focusing Mask
Empire Ranch Observatory
Iowa County Astronomers
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Old Dinosaur
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/08/07
Posts: 839
Loc: Out in the sagebrush
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Katodog,
Your image using the Tungsten light setting brought out the dim distended halo better than any I have seen yet. Very spectacular photo. 
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WRS Observatory
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3379
Loc: In the doghouse.
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Quote:
I've been lucky to image every other night so far. Here is a size comparison using the same focal length. I stretched each image to make it easier to compare. These are from 3 raw frames.
John, that is a beautiful presentation.
It really puts the rate of growth into perpective. Nicely done.
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JasonŽ
Phlog
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