Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
|
|
Tommy  ! That's a good image and if I may say so, welcome to the dark side of the imaging force  ; it's long been overdued  . Wishing you many more fine images of the comets and other objects.
Ron B[ee]
--------------------
5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO 
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO 
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob 
|
Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
|
|
That's a great expansive wide view of the comet and its surrounding area !
Ron B[ee]
--------------------
5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob
|
Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
|
|
That's really cool animation, David .
Ron B[ee]
--------------------
5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob
|
Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
|
|
That's a really nice image, Carol .
Ron B[ee]
--------------------
5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob
|
Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
|
|
A really nice sketch, Jeff. Please keep 'em comin'.
Ron B[ee]
--------------------
5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob
|
Bill Weir
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 893
Loc: Metchosin (Victoria), Canada
|
|
Last night our Victoria RASC Centre was doing a night sky viewing at a local elementary school. At 1850hrs PDST when I got to the school, I was told to take my gear around the back of the school where everyone was setting up. As I was walking across the soccer field, I looked up into the darkening sky to determine where the comet would be. OK, there’s Cassiopeia, there’s Perseus and OH MY THERE’S THE COMET! It’s that star that shouldn’t be there. A quick glance in the direction that I was supposed to go, told me I shouldn’t. There were tall trees blocking the northern sky and bright lights on the school flooding the observing area (what’s up with that eh?).
I set up my ED 80 right then and there and started intercepting people on their way to the others. I never did get a chance to make it to the scheduled location. I’m sure well over 100 people from children maybe as young as three up to Grandparents looked through my scope over the next 1.5 hrs. I‘d meant to set up my 6” dob also, but never had a chance as the line of people kept building.
The whole time I kept babbling on and on about how exciting this was to us astro-folks. (OK to be honest geeky nerds).
At the end of it all I did manage to do a sketch as viewed through bino viewers but haven’t scanned it yet. I also did another sketch when I got home as viewed through my 6”. Also at home did this wide field shot using my wife’s little point and shoot. The shot is ISO 100 15 seconds at f/2.8. It’s kind of grainy due to having to downsize and de resolution it for the site. It shows very well how the comet looked naked eye in relation to all of the other stars in the area. Alpha Persei is the star at cnter. The comet is the brightest "star" at 7 oclock from it.
I can’t wait for tonight as I’m setting up my 12.5” dob on this one and don’t have to work tomorrow.
Bill
--------------------
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
|
Americal
super member
Reged: 09/14/07
Posts: 120
Loc: Under the L. A. lightdome
|
|
Ron, how's the smoke effecting your seeing? I'm on the eastside (Claremont) and at 12:30 I couldn't even make out Cassiopeia without binoculars.
--------------------
Tom
It's OK Mom, I can fixit
-----------------------
4 1/4" f/5 homebuilt Newt
6" f/8 homebuilt Newt
8" f/5.1 homebuilt Newt
C11 ASGT (no, it's not homebuilt)
|
Tom Polakis
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/20/04
Posts: 551
Loc: Tempe, Arizona
|
|
Quote:
It has a tail.  This is an image from someone on the SBIG list: 
http://publicmissiles.com/franku/Holmes_1minute%20exposure.jpg
The way that it's precisely aligned with the camera's short axis leads me to believe that the 'tail' may in fact be CCD blooming. I don't think that other long-exposure images show a tail. Also, the viewing geometry has the tail pointing mostly away from us.
Tom
--------------------
Tom Polakis
Tempe, AZ
Visual observing, DSLR photography, lunar & planetary imaging
http://www.pbase.com/polakis/
|
Clive Gibbons
Mostly Harmless
Reged: 05/26/05
Posts: 10335
Loc: Oort Cloud
|
|
I wonder when the news media will catch on?
Checking the local TV news channels last night and this morning revealed nothing.
Funny thing is that this comet is easily bright enough for anyone to see, even tho it doesn't look like a comet. Maybe that'll make it hard for folks to ID.
And, it just looks like any other star.
Never mind...
--------------------
A few telescopes of dubious value.
Understanding wife and three curious cats.
"Semper ubi sub ubi"
|
Ron B[ee]
Tyro
Reged: 04/27/03
Posts: 4719
Loc: CA
|
|
Really bad for me too, Tom  . Last night, I saw only two stars and very dimly at that where I thought Perseus would be. So I point my NP127 at 4 degree FOV and just panned around. Nothing . But then I glimpsed a very dim "star" just below the one I saw and I point my scope at it and viola, a non-stellar glow!
Try it again tonight Tom. Also, if you can see Capella, you might be able to use the chart and slowly "move to" it. Capella came through fairly brightly last night after it rose. Best wishes.
Ron B[ee]
--------------------
5-inch Tele Vue NP127 APO
4-inch Tele Vue TV-102 APO
8-inch f/6 Discovery PDHQ Dob
|
Mike Harvey
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/01/04
Posts: 589
Loc: Orlando, FL.
|
|
Quote:
A comet doesn't have to be impacted by anything in order to brighten in magnitude. More than likely it is just outgassing, expelling gas that had built up to much internal pressure from being heated by the sun.
This particular comet has a history of doing just this!
Apparently there is something in the object's makeup that
reacts solar heating with spectacular outgassing.
Could be an exposed vein of ice or perhaps the comet is so loosely bound together that it breaks up a bit
(or at least sheds some outer material).
Mike Harvey
|
Glassthrower
Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks
Reged: 04/07/05
Posts: 14687
Loc: Hurricane Alley
|
|
Quote:
I wonder when the news media will catch on?
Clive,
The news media is not reporting much on this because it's not a "classic comet" in the layman-sense. There is no easily visible tail. If there was a tail, like Hale Bopp, it would be all over the news.
I have my 2" Pentax f/12 rigged up on a tripod. I'm going to throw a bit more magnification at it tonight than my 15x70 binocular provided last night. 
Regards and clear skies,
MikeG
--------------------
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!
|
ursamajor
member
Reged: 07/24/07
Posts: 88
|
|
I saw it last night. I heard about it on the radio as I was getting into bed. I couldn't believe what I was hearing about it being 1 million times brighter! It got the better of me so 15 minutes later a quick internet search confirmed that it was all true so in 3 degree C weather I snuck out into my backyard (still in pajamas)and found it almost at the zenith looking exactly like a star. I guessed it to be about mag 2.8 .I Can't wait for darkness tonight...
--------------------
Using a goto scope is like fishing with hand grenades...
|
brentwood
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/04/05
Posts: 637
Loc: BC Canada
|
|
Is this comet on its way out of the solar system or coming in? I havent seen that mentioned yet.
--------------------
Big telescope.Small telescopes.
Ridiculous binocular collection
I've cut it twice and it's still too short.
|
plutarko
journeyman
Reged: 03/12/07
Posts: 9
|
|
Atention this nigth, the comet is much bigger. Here a picture taken 15min ago in comparsion with another taken 20h ago.
I use the same C8 at F10 and SPC900 i see the nucleus a bit dimmer.
David Cardeñosa
|
Tom Polakis
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/20/04
Posts: 551
Loc: Tempe, Arizona
|
|
Quote:
Is this comet on its way out of the solar system or coming in? I havent seen that mentioned yet.
It's on the way out, but it has been on the way out for quite some time. There's nothing really special about its present location in the Solar System for such an event to happen. Check out the ephemeris at the IAU site. The distance from the sun is "r" and "Delta" is the distance from the earth. Both are increasing slowly.
Tom
--------------------
Tom Polakis
Tempe, AZ
Visual observing, DSLR photography, lunar & planetary imaging
http://www.pbase.com/polakis/
|
Tuugii
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 522
Loc: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
|
|
some more pix:
20x10sec, ISO 100, Canon Xti, 21" cass.
Here is the most detail I had managed to get:
Tuugii
--------------------
telescope=time machine...
|
gdjsky01
member
Reged: 11/25/06
Posts: 15
Loc: Southern California
|
|
I was out in my backyard in Fullerton California, Orange County (near Disneyland) from 10:00 to 10:30pm PDT last night 10/24/07 (05:00UT 10/25/07). Temperature was about 75 (22C). Calm. Dry. Smoky and hazy but still a limiting mag of at least 3. Even with the haze / smoke from the Lake Arrowhead and Irvine / Orange County fires it was not a problem to see Comet Holmes with a pair of 8.5x56 Nikon binos. Once located I could see it naked eye. An obvious out of place non-stellar bright round dot with a light peach color in the binos.
I could not resist so in a few minutes I had the TV-101 setup on the GP mount with the 31mm Nagler. Comet Holmes was a distinct non-stellar bright dot with an attending bright nebulous haze around it. It did indeed look reminiscent of several PNebs including IC15XX (memory is the 2nd thing to go). Using a 6mm Zoom Nagler I could see the core was not completely round but slightly oblong with the 'dimmer part' to the south southwest. The halo was exactly the opposite being slightly oblong or extended to the north northeast. All the while having this 'light peach' color.
This morning I could tell the 'peachy' color I saw was more due to the smoke in the air than the makeup of the comet. This morning the air was still and the smoke was a high cloudy haze. That allowed me to enjoy my own personal total lunar eclipse resplendent in the very same copper colored tone we all know and love. To give you another data point Mars and Venus were roughly the same color (though Venus still brighter of course). So the smoke is probably where my peach or light orange color came from last night. 
I had fairly good view of Comet Holmes this morning at about 5:20am PDT (12:20UT 10/25/07) even though the smoke and haze was worse than it had been just 7 hours prior. I could not see the comet naked eye - but I could not see
Polaris either. However using 10x50 binoculars I was able to easily 'guess' the location and found it. I thought there was a fan shape in the binoculars I had not seen in binoculars the night before. As if it was bigger. That could again an illusion caused by the smoke or by hand holding the binoculars. But that is the impression I got even propping the binoculars up against my truck. Guess I should check the net somewhere where it's dark.
--------------------
---------------------------------------
Jeffrey D. Gortatowsky
Fullerton, California
Teleport 18cm Truss Tube Newtonian
Litebox 45cm Truss Tube Newtonian
TV-101 10cm f/5.4 APO
Starmaster 11 ELT 28cm f/4.5 - sold 
TMB-180 18cm F/9 - sold
AP130EDT 13cm F/8 - sold
"What wretched scoundrel stole the cork from my lunch?" - W.C. Fields
|
brentwood
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/04/05
Posts: 637
Loc: BC Canada
|
|
Quote:
Quote:
Is this comet on its way out of the solar system or coming in? I havent seen that mentioned yet.
It's on the way out, but it has been on the way out for quite some time. There's nothing really special about its present location in the Solar System for such an event to happen. Check out the ephemeris at the IAU site. The distance from the sun is "r" and "Delta" is the distance from the earth. Both are increasing slowly.
Tom
Thanks for that information, I was wondering why no one was saying that this was going to be the 'Comet of the century'! Can you imagine how bright it would get if it did this on the way in!
--------------------
Big telescope.Small telescopes.
Ridiculous binocular collection
I've cut it twice and it's still too short.
|
Ronson
newbie
Reged: 05/07/04
Posts: 4
|
|
Here are a couple of photos from tonight from Bulgaria: http://forum.starrydreams.com/viewtopic.php?p=16767#16767
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
[Re: 
Edit
Reply
Quote
