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New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes

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17 years 1 month ago #53403 by redbeard
Replied by redbeard on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Just had a look through the binoculars there. Nice fuzzy shape.

The Moon is rising.

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17 years 1 month ago #53404 by michaeloconnell
Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Took a look just now. Appears larger again. Can now see a couple of stars behind the comet. Skies are a little hazy unfortunately. :cry:

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17 years 1 month ago #53405 by paulevans
Replied by paulevans on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Here it is through the 6"...

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17 years 1 month ago #53406 by michaeloconnell
Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
That's a good image Paul. Compares very well to what it looks like through my scope.
What camera was that taken with?

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17 years 1 month ago #53407 by paulevans
Replied by paulevans on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
That's with my Minolta Dynax 5D at the prime focus of a Meade LXD75 6 inch Newtonian f=762mm 8 secs at ISO 800. I took a whole range of exposures, I haven't even looked at them all yet.

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17 years 1 month ago #53408 by lunartic_old
Replied by lunartic_old on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Hey there everyone

With the naked eye this comet is obvious, it forms a nice triangle with epsion and zeta Persei and I estimate it's magnitude at 3.

In 10X50 binos it's an impressive, fuzzy object. Bringing out the 80mm refractor opens up a whole new world. At 28X the circular nature of Holmes is apparent, a central core is a solid object and surrounded by a nebulous halo of diffuse light. Buried in the halo, at the 10o'clock position, is a faint star of 6th or 7th magnitude that adds to the appeal. Boosting the magnification to 37X and the 60X added some, but the best view was at 28X.

Took the family out to have a look and some friends who were around and "WOW" was the general concensous of opinion.

Moved out to the front garden and persuaded a couple of passers-by to have a look, got some funny looks when I asked them if they wanted to see the comet, got good reviews after. Most were impressed when I pointed it out to the naked eye.

Going to do some double star work now and then observe the moon when it gets a little higher.

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.

Rich Cook

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