Gynomite
sage
Reged: 06/06/06
Posts: 245
Loc: Dallas Texas
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Easily found it in Suburban Dallas through the street lights and the moon. What a spectacle to behold. It just looks like Perseus grew another star.
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Celestron NexStar 6 SE SCT
Orion 12XTi Dob with COL (SOLD)
Celestron Sky Scout
Denk Big Easy
Denkmeier P x S Diagonal
Orion Stratus 68 5mm
Orion ED 2 12.3mm (paired)
Orion Lanthanum 21mm (paired)
Leupold 12x26 Binoculars (Hunting and Birding)
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comets4tom
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/08/05
Posts: 575
Loc: Texas
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Went out and observed it again tonight. It is still holding its brightness and is obvious naked eye even with the moon.
The image here is the one I posted on the CCD imaging forum.
Tom H.
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Vixen R200SS, ZenithStar 80 (APOGraded), Meade 2045D, Orion Explorer 90mm, Vixen Great Polaris DX with SkySensor 2000, Meade LX200GPS 8 Inch
Canon 300D, Stellacam EX, Orion Starshoot DSCIC, Atik 16IC
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Dave M
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/03/04
Posts: 4519
Loc: N.E Ohio
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Got my first view and images of it, this thing is so cool!
I could easily see it naked eye in the blinding light of the
full moon, looking through the 9x50 finder i could still easily see it as some passing clouds covered it up at times.
Looks like my next chance to view it will be Sunday, have rain
forecast for the next couple days, hope the show goes on...
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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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Old Dinosaur
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/08/07
Posts: 839
Loc: Out in the sagebrush
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Has anybody got some size measurements of it tonight?
I just got covered by a layer of cloud so had to shut things down. Seemed quite a bit larger and to me anyway; the bright central core seemed more off center tonight.
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WRS Observatory
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Unknownastron
super member
Reged: 04/06/05
Posts: 153
Loc: CatsEye Observatory,Rural Sout...
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A rough size estimate is 4 arc minutes diameter with the inner coma about 1 arcminute. These are just visual impressions through the eyepiece.
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"My God, it's full of stars!"
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Tuugii
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 522
Loc: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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Quote:
Has anybody got some size measurements of it tonight?
I just got covered by a layer of cloud so had to shut things down. Seemed quite a bit larger and to me anyway; the bright central core seemed more off center tonight.
you're right! Right now I am sitting in the operating room of 21". Had observed it 10min ago, the core was slightly brighter than yesterday, and the tail became even more obvious.
Will start imaging in a minute.
Tuugii
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telescope=time machine...
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Tonk
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/19/04
Posts: 3579
Loc: Leeds, UK, 54N
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Quote:
Has anyone tried the Lumicon Comet filter?
These only work on comets that are emitting SWAN band emissions - i.e. the green comets. The results with these filters on Holmes show that this is a dust coma principally reflecting sunlight - hence the yellow colour
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Televue 85, GM-8/Gemini, Canon 10D
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 6784
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
Has anybody got some size measurements of it tonight?
I just got covered by a layer of cloud so had to shut things down. Seemed quite a bit larger and to me anyway; the bright central core seemed more off center tonight.
Tonight (October 26th at 0600 UT), the moon interfered a bit more, but the view was still quite nice. The comet appeared to the unaided eye at around the same brightness as last night (still slightly inferior to Algol), so it was probably around magnitude 2.5. In the telescope (NexStar 9.25 inch f/10 SCT), the comet was noticeably larger than last night, but the color remained the pretty cream with hints of a dirty yellowish hue. The faint outer halo was probably between seven and eight arc minutes in diameter, while the brighter inner disk-like core was close to four arc minutes across. Interestingly enough, both the outer halo and the outer edge of the disk-like core of the coma showed hints of some annularity, with very slight slight ring-like diffuse darkenings inside what appeared to be a diffuse circular shell in each case. The inner coma remained very bright with a tiny star-like nuclear condensation and an off-center sectored brightening that was somewhat broader and more diffuse than the fan-like feature I noted last night. At 298x, the star-like nucleus appeared quite distinctly showing a tiny diffraction disk similar in size to those of some nearby stars. I kicked the power to 480x, but did not see any signs of any secondary nucleii. At 59x, I looked for a tail, but was unable to see any signs of it, although the overall sky brightness was a tad higher than it was last night. Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Quote:
...but it's certainly the most surreal.
Perfect description! 
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 *Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3379
Loc: In the doghouse.
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I just popped out for a few minutes to take a gander while it's flying high, so to speak, near zenith. Unlike before, where I spent more time in the binos, this time I meandered the area with eyes only and found two things slightly different from my initial observation:
1) Whereas initially I had estimated the mV to be just slightly brighter than nearby Delta Persei at +3.0, it now appears to me clearly brighter than Gamma Persei (+2.9) while closer possibly to that of Algol (+2.1). I'm new to this whole estimating game, but I'll gander 17P as +2.4 for now.
2) I'm now able to make out the defocused apperance by naked eye without question. Just amazing.
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Jason®
Phlog
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Eric P
sage
Reged: 04/04/05
Posts: 351
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Darn Pennsylvania weather is just not clearing.
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novbabies
Postmaster
Reged: 06/05/05
Posts: 15678
Loc: Northern Georgia!
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Quote:
Quote:
This looks to be my only clear night for the next 5 days -
I hear you, Bob. Fortunately the "comet gods" blessed us in CT with at least this one night. The crummy part is that I am at work all night. The good news is that I grabbed the Pentax 8x40 before leaving the house. And thankfully I did, too. This is one cool comet. I'm absolutely shocked that I could make out some, albiet minor, detail. Even with the parking lot lights, and bright eyed Luna staring down, Holmes is easy naked eye. Although still dimmer than Mirfak, this "planetary nebulish" looking ice ball slightly out shines Delta Persei to my eyes. When throwing the 8x glasses at the comet the size almost blew me away! I really expected it to be much smaller. But the orb was very obvious, with a soft outter shell. I couldn't make a size estimate at 8x, but if I were to guess I'd say three to four times wider than Jupiter...maybe? The dense off center core is also clrealy seen at this magnification.
I wish I had my 12" dob right now. But even if I don't get a chance to use "Great White" on Holmes, just seeing it at all is a real thrill.
Time to step back out with the binos. 
Jason, AWESOME sketch/rendering  !!!!
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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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plutarko
journeyman
Reged: 03/12/07
Posts: 9
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Hi all
The last animation from tonight pictures, it's shows a clearly size change. 
Image size 645kb:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4079/17panimacion25102007fl7.gif
David Cardeñosa
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3379
Loc: In the doghouse.
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Quote:
Jason, AWESOME sketch/rendering !!!!
Thanks, Mark.
I just came in from viewing it again. I just can't get enough. Besides, who knows how long the clear skies will hold.
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Jason®
Phlog
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Chopin
Canis Insanus
Reged: 02/03/05
Posts: 3379
Loc: In the doghouse.
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Quote:
Hi all
The last animation from tonight pictures, it's shows a clearly size change.
Image size 645kb:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4079/17panimacion25102007fl7.gif
David Cardeñosa
David, that is a great animation. It really shows what I seem to be seeing in the binos. Every time I look at it, it appears just a touch brighter and "fluffier".
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Jason®
Phlog
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SabiaJD
sage
Reged: 02/20/05
Posts: 429
Loc: Clarks Summit, PA
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Adding an image of Comet 17/P Holmes that I took last night. Used the 9.5 - incf f/15 A.Clark refractor, a 25 mm afocal projection and Nikon 995 digital camera. That roughly equates to a EFR of f/12.8 when digitally zoomed.
The visual appearnce is remarkable. Using a 15 mm TV Panoptic and a 25mm Plossel on the scope shows a ghostly large circular 2 minute of arc coma. Wihthin this and every so slightly off center is a distinct false nucleus, from which a bright fan tail is projected about half way to the outer coma. That circular outer coma has the sharpest boundary I have evey seen in a comet.
Very remarkable object in 10 x 50 binoculars. I estimated it was magnitude 2.2, by the unaided eye.
Edited by SabiaJD (10/26/07 06:25 AM)
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bruessow
sage
Reged: 05/31/04
Posts: 258
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I think you mean delta (at mag 2.9). Mifak is considerably brighter.
Quote:
I snuck another peek at the comet. This thing's changing at an breathtaking pace:
Morris Observation Format:
17P/Holmes Observation:
Oct 26.05 UT: m1 = 2.2, Dia = 3', DC = 8 ...NE...Phillip J. Creed (North Canton, OH) [With the naked-eye, it was just ever-so-slightly fuzzy, unlike last night where it looked distinctly stellar.
The view in 25x100s, though, was the show-stopper. Folks, I really, really don't know how to describe this! In 20+ years as a comet observers, it's not the most impressive comet I've seen, but it's certainly the most surreal.
The coma was about 3' in diameter. The yellow color that was so prominent last night also seems a bit muted. The color tonight was more of a cream color. The coma was noticeably-elongated in a N-S direction, with a pseudo-nucleus of ~20" in diameter noticeably displaced south of the coma's center. There was no diffusivity to the outer coma at all; it was a very sharp demarcation between background sky and coma. Think a bright planetary nebula on steroids, and you're close.
The coma itself was not uniform in brightness. There appeared to be a brighter patch lying E and W of the nucleus. There was a dimmer section, mostly in the northeastern quadrant (spanning about PA 345 through true north to PA 90) that was about 2/3 of the way out from the nucleus. It looked almost like the outer coma on the NE quadrant had partially "peeled" away, leaving an arc of "shadow" from PA 0 to 90.]
Folks, my words are just getting in the way. If you've got a scope you've GOT to see it!
Clear Skies to All, and Happy Comet Hunting,
Phil
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Jeremy Perez
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 1675
Loc: Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
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Over the course of the last 24 hours, this comet sure has expanded. I put my astrometric eyepiece to use on it again and I measured the central condensation at about 35 arc seconds, the bright coma at 150 arc seconds, and the faint outer halo in the ballpark of 400 arc seconds. The color was more subtle than yesterday and had an ivory appearance. I'm inclined to agree with the description of the comet looking like a softly lit pearl. Very beautiful. The central condensation flows off center at a PA of about 220 degrees and has a much softer transition than it appeared to have yesterday. The northeastern tip of this condensation surrounds a stellar pseudo-nucleus. The bright coma appears to have developed an annular structure. The southwest half is brighter and the ring-like edge is more apparent along the northeast side. While looking for any consistent irregularity in the faint outer halo, I thought I still detected a subtly brighter area along the southwest portion that corresponded to the position of the central condensation. The full moon really makes it tough to analyze this faint detail though.
With the aid of just my stargazing glasses, I think that it appears just the tiniest bit softer than a proper star of similar magnitude. The full report with labeled & larger images can be found here. I'd like to say I'm going to give it another extended look tomorrow night, but I think I may succumb to an involuntary sleep-deprivation coma. We'll see...
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Orion SVP 6LT (6" f/8 Newt) || Orion XT8 (8" f/6 Newt) || 15x70 Oberwerk Binoculars
The Belt Of Venus || Astro-Sketch Gallery || Astro-Sketching Resources || Astro-Photo Gallery
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Jeremy Perez
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/12/04
Posts: 1675
Loc: Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
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Here is the 240X view...
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Orion SVP 6LT (6" f/8 Newt) || Orion XT8 (8" f/6 Newt) || 15x70 Oberwerk Binoculars
The Belt Of Venus || Astro-Sketch Gallery || Astro-Sketching Resources || Astro-Photo Gallery
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 3169
Loc: Ireland
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Quote:
... Interestingly enough, both the outer halo and the outer edge of the disk-like core of the coma showed hints of some annularity, with very slight slight ring-like diffuse darkenings inside what appeared to be a diffuse circular shell in each case....
Well, I'm glad David also noticed a brightening to the outside of the inner disk. I was starting to think I was seeing things (and perhaps still am -- but at least I'm not alone).
With my humid skies and the moonwash I can't see the outer halo at all. I measured the inner disk at about 2.5 arc-minutes. Here's a sketch I drew (time on sketch is local, so 22:30 UT):
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
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