Special Ed
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Remember Comet Holmes?
#5642911 - 01/25/13 04:21 PM
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Hi.
Here is a blast from the past. I put together this animation of C17P/Holmes during its rapid expansion. Something to remember while we wait for PANSTARRS to get here.
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5643039 - 01/25/13 05:40 PM
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Can I join in - I haven't got your drawing skills though so heres a panorama!
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5643042 - 01/25/13 05:43 PM
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Wonder if we will ever see a comet do this "going bang" act ever again??
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BrooksObs
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5643560 - 01/25/13 11:20 PM
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The odds are vanishingly small for that, Tonk. The outburst P/Holmes underwent was a whole order of magnitude larger than the next largest outburst ever reported. What we saw has to be considered an utterly unique event.
BrooksObs
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RLTYS
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5643844 - 01/26/13 06:20 AM
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Beautiful sketches and images. I remember doing my share of sketching and observing of comet Holmes. What was fun was watching its gradual expansion. Thanks for the memories.
Rich (RLTYS)
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BrooksObs
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Reged: 12/08/12
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: RLTYS]
#5643855 - 01/26/13 06:42 AM
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Of the many hundreds of comets that I've followed over the decades what made P/Holmes utterly unique for me was to witness the constant faint scintillation within the coma visible with my 16" scope during the first night or two following the outburst's onset. It was as if the coma contained a fist full of "glitter" that could be seen to sparkle constantly at just above the threshold of detection. I've seen comets exhibit a lot of bizarre phenomenon, but never anything like that!
BrooksObs
Edited by BrooksObs (01/26/13 07:06 AM)
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azure1961p
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: BrooksObs]
#5644020 - 01/26/13 09:30 AM
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That sounds like a compelling visual Brooks. Sorry I missed Holmes. I was in the midst of a move . and astronomy was totally off my radar. I'm sorry I missed this one.
Pete
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Special Ed
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: BrooksObs]
#5644040 - 01/26/13 09:42 AM
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Thanks, folks.
A great set of images, Tony, that put the expansion in the kind of widefield context it deserves. If I had known that the comet would overwhelm my field of view I might have picked a lower power wider field ep to begin with. 
BrooksObs, thanks for the benefit of your experienced point of view. I guess we were fortunate to be in the right place/time to witness the outburst. This wasn't a comet that one forgets, yes?
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ROBERT FREE
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5644191 - 01/26/13 11:04 AM
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i missed holmes myself,but i can vividly remember when i was a young boy in nj not far from nyc comet arend-roland,in spring of 1957,it was brighter than sirius or jupiter an had a real long tail moving across the sky id say over 75 deg an as it moved it like made little jumps an i was hooked on astronomy. i saw it for weeks right overhead it was amazing.i was stunned.
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SteelStar
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: ROBERT FREE]
#5644548 - 01/26/13 02:52 PM Attachment (38 downloads)
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Here are my observations of 17/P Holmes from 10/24/07 to 10/28/07.
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SteelStar
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: SteelStar]
#5644557 - 01/26/13 02:56 PM Attachment (27 downloads)
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10/29/07 to 11/03/07
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SteelStar
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: SteelStar]
#5644560 - 01/26/13 02:57 PM Attachment (31 downloads)
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11/04/07 to 11/08/07
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Dave Mitsky
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5644762 - 01/26/13 05:15 PM Attachment (34 downloads)
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I certainly do.
Comet 17P/Holmes
80mm achromatic refractor
Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR
November 3, 2007
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azure1961p
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Dave Mitsky]
#5644766 - 01/26/13 05:18 PM
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Every image in this thread truly serves to compliment the other. Worked out well Mike!
Pete
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RLTYS
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: azure1961p]
#5645552 - 01/27/13 07:15 AM
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Your right, absolutely beautiful sketches and images. I remember when my wife first saw Holmes she refered to it as the fried egg comet.
Rich (RLTYS)
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Special Ed
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: RLTYS]
#5645574 - 01/27/13 07:52 AM
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I agree--I'm really enjoying these sketches and images.
SteelStar, that's an impressive series of drawings (and an equally impressive strech of clear weather ).
Rich, as the comet's shape evolved, some people said it looked like a trilobite (see Tonk's second image from the right).
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5645588 - 01/27/13 08:11 AM
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Quote:
it looked like a trilobite
I had it down as a colourful tropical fish
If you look at the 3rd image in the pano - can you see the disconnected ion tail?
That was a treat to watch it slowly disconnect over a few days. We are sort of looking down its whole length so we see only a foreshortened cross sectional view
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Dave M
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5645597 - 01/27/13 08:23 AM Attachment (20 downloads)
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Holmes was certainly one cool comet, i agree that it looked like a trilobite. Here`s a image i took on 11/13/07
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BrooksObs
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5645607 - 01/27/13 08:35 AM
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It is interesting to note that although many other periodic comets have undergone sudden major brightenings, or outbursts over the years, in every case but the 2007 outburst of P/Holmes evidence of the event fades way after just a few weeks, at most. Even on the occasion of P/Holmes double outburst in 1892 the expanding clouds of debris dissipated within weeks. This brings one to wonder just what transpired to make the 2007 event unique.
I've read at least one explanation that an entire huge section of the comet's surface crust lifted off virtually as a unit and subsequently disintergrated in a progressive fashion, in a sense maintaining, or re-enforcing, the outburst for a longer time.
Nevertheless, the very fact that the largest cometary brightness outbursts in history (in 2007 the comet's brightness increased by a factor of 500,000x, while that of 1892 amounted to about 100,000x), should involve the same object and that their amplitudes should be so much greater than those of any others on record, suggests something rather unique about this particular comet and its apparent repetative behavior. If ever there was a target for a spacecraft flyby, I'd say P/Holmes is it.
BrooksObs
Edited by BrooksObs (01/27/13 08:42 AM)
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: BrooksObs]
#5645719 - 01/27/13 10:02 AM
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If ever there was a target for a spacecraft flyby, I'd say P/Holmes is it.
+1 - I'd chip a few quid in
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Dave M
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5645859 - 01/27/13 11:20 AM
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+2 on that..
Next perihelion date for P17/Holmes is 2014 March 27, i wonder what the odds are that another outburst could happen.
I know its a crystal ball question but it makes me wonder.
Looking at Seiichi Yoshida`s comet page
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0017P/2014.html
it looks like Holmes was predicted to reach aproximately mag 15 when the outburst in 2007 occurred, it looks like the 2014 return mag estimate is about the same.
Edited by Dave M (01/27/13 11:37 AM)
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Dave M]
#5645989 - 01/27/13 12:41 PM
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like Holmes was predicted to reach aproximately mag 15 when the outburst in 2007 occurred, it looks like the 2014 return mag estimate is about the same
Yeah its intrinsically dim - Edwin Holmes discovered it in outburst simply by deciding to have a look at M31 - got a big supprise!
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Steve OK
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5646009 - 01/27/13 12:52 PM Attachment (30 downloads)
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A fun thread! Here are a couple of images I got from the outburst...
Steve
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Special Ed
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5646553 - 01/27/13 05:57 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
it looked like a trilobite
I had it down as a colourful tropical fish
If you look at the 3rd image in the pano - can you see the disconnected ion tail?
That was a treat to watch it slowly disconnect over a few days. We are sort of looking down its whole length so we see only a foreshortened cross sectional view
Tony--I wondered what that blue nebulosity was in your panorama--I had completely forgotten about the ion tail disconnect.
@ Dave and Steve--nice images. Back in 2007, Holmes's return in 2014 seemed sooo far in the future. Thanks for the reminder.
Count me in on helping fund a spacecraft flyby of Comet Holmes--I hope the majority of taxpaying voters agree with us.
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ericj
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5651316 - 01/29/13 10:44 PM
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Michael,
Nice animation of C17P/Holmes, almost feels like watching it as it moves through space. Was the software easy to work with?
Best,
Eric Jamison
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Special Ed
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: ericj]
#5658202 - 02/02/13 01:51 PM
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Thanks, Eric. I hope you looked at the revised animation at the bottom of the thread--I think it's a little better than the original.
The software is very easy to use but somewhat limited in what it will do (hence the ease). Preparing the sketches beforehand with animation in mind would be wise.
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stevecoe
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5661001 - 02/04/13 12:36 AM Attachment (24 downloads)
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I do indeed remember Comet Holmes. A truly unique object in the 35 years that I have been observing the sky. I also remember that Comet Tuttle was also naked eye at the same time. It was fainter than Holmes, but I don't have anytime in my notes that discusses two naked eye comets at the same time.
Here is my shot of Holmes and the California Nebula (NGC 1499). It is a 6 minutes exposure with a 135mm lens and a Hutech mod Canon XT DSLR.
Lots of fun; Steve Coe
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RLTYS
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: stevecoe]
#5661183 - 02/04/13 06:42 AM
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WOW!!!!!!!!!! 
Rich (RLTYS)
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Ptarmigan
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5662502 - 02/04/13 09:16 PM
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I remember Comet Holmes. Quite a sight. Should be considered a great comet for going through that outburst from faint to bright.
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Special Ed
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Ptarmigan]
#5662556 - 02/04/13 09:52 PM Attachment (16 downloads)
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Steve, That's a terrific capture. Holmes went past some very interesting DSO's--like right through the alpha Perseii association.
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5662890 - 02/05/13 03:54 AM
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Ah the Alpha Perseii association field was marvelous. By this time Holmes had lost its green coma and ion tail and was just an expanding dust shell - but still largely opaque
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Special Ed
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5663445 - 02/05/13 11:46 AM
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Tony,
That's a lovely picture.
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StarStuff1
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Special Ed]
#5671773 - 02/10/13 03:23 AM Attachment (20 downloads)
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Pretty much I gave up on AP when the digital thing hit. But Holmes was so unique and bright I too a few afocal shots with a little point and shoot Cannon and a small APO. No tracking at all and very short exposures so few field stars visible.
This one was on Oct 26 of 2007.
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StarStuff1
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: StarStuff1]
#5671774 - 02/10/13 03:25 AM Attachment (15 downloads)
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Similar method, maybe a longer focal length scope. 3 days later.
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OldDeadOne
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: StarStuff1]
#5732776 - 03/14/13 07:15 PM
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Wow Holmes was the last comet I saw and I can't believe it's been 6 years since I last saw it,I hope panstaars is my next one to see. I might retire this year,so this summer I might be viewing a heck of a lot more.
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Tonk
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: OldDeadOne]
#5733479 - 03/15/13 05:08 AM
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Bert - you missed Garradd?? - that was around and binoccular bright for 6 months a couple of years back!
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MessiToM
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: Tonk]
#5736835 - 03/16/13 06:27 PM
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Quote:
Ah the Alpha Perseii association field was marvelous. By this time Holmes had lost its green coma and ion tail and was just an expanding dust shell - but still largely opaque
Very nice image. Looks like a ghost from super Mario bros.
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stmguy
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Re: Remember Comet Holmes?
[Re: MessiToM]
#5743793 - 03/19/13 07:13 PM Attachment (6 downloads)
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Where does the time go ? Here is mine plus a link to a short video of several pics I took https://picasaweb.google.com/ntfredrick/Comets#5131604962535575698
Norm
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