Nice images John. I didnt get a chance to image during that sucke rhole last night. But what I did notice is that the naked eye brightness seems to have dimmed dramatically. At my dark sky site it was barely visible to the naked eye. Your ghostly image seems to suggest this also????


Dave Gradwell

Good sequence of images there John. You didn't mention the lens differences however... How am I supposed to learn if you don't add the lens details?

Seanie,
Sorry, all the above shots were at prime focus on my C102SLT, i.e. telescope is the lens. The scope is about F6.7.

Dave,
The comet was only visible to me naked eye wtih averted vision, this is probably partly due to its proximity to alpha Perseus at mag 1.76 and it obviously has become much more dispersed. I don't think it'll be naked eye visible for much longer.

Albert,
I've been wondering the same thing, but have not seen any data on this yet. It must have shed a lot of mass, and given that it's outward bound, I would reckon that it's orbit should have been greatly affected. It should get flung out a little further, and depending on how much mass it has shed, it may not return but may instead get trapped by Jupiter. Anyway its orbit should be quite different IMHO.

If we are lucky to get a few minutes clear skies tonight - watchout. The comet should shroud alpha Perseus in a misty veil. Now that would make a good photo.

November 16th 2007 23:10UT Reflector 1200mm/15mm eyepiece /80X
Pastel/Gel Pen/Seeing?/ Trans Poor/ Wicklow, Ireland Mag ?not sure as I could not see much else for long.

It was a very cloudy evening, I was aware that Holmes was the largest object in the solar system. Every now and then I had a look out for a gap and at 23:10 there it was still naked eye almost ready to engulf Mirfak.

What a huge huge expansion since my last view on November 8th.
Comet Holmes was so transparent, the nucleus was not apparent at all, the material spewing from the centre was much less defined but was so elongated and fine and nebulous. There was a star in the centre not the pin point nucleus of previous days. Those four stars were just cliping the leading edge.There is also a bit of a line through the image from my scanner, can not get rid of it.

Holmes was so much paler, a ghost of its former self, yet still shapely and beautiful. There were several stars within the thinning coma. I did not get to include them all in this sketch as cloud once again, swallowed, this giant ice expanding visitor whole.
This may be my last look at Holmes as the forecast for the next five days is not good.
It if continues to become more transparent, it will then bring the challenge of attempting to sketch almost nothing in the dark night sky.

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society

It if continues to become more transparent, it will then bring the challenge of attempting to sketch almost nothing in the dark night sky.

My sentiments also Dee. I dont think it has more than a week left in it. Funny you should mention it as ghostly, as that term has been used quite a bit to describe it lately.

Nice sketch by the way, I think you caught it just as I saw it also.

BTW.
Dublin Weather is not looking favourable for viewing until Wednesday when there's only going to 75% cloud cover.
Next Friday is the only clear night forecast for the week - and that's too long a forecast to be accurate. Holmes may not be discernable by that time.

John, Deirdre

Thats what I was seeing naked eye on Friday, a ghostly glow with averted vision. Remember though in 1892/93 when this happened previously the comet after brightening in November then dimming rebrightened again in January. So keep watching the show may not be over yet.

Dave Gradwell

A wee mosaic put together by aligning background stars. Individual images were at different exposures and image scales. Left to right: 26th Oct, 28th Oct, 29th Oct, 1st Nov and 3rd Nov

That's class Kieran!

That's a cool composition!

I wonder if anyone has the software to analyse the positions of the comet and generate a set of orbital elements from them? It would be fun to see how closely it matches the published elements!

Phil.

This may be my last look at Holmes as the forecast for the next five days is not good.
It if continues to become more transparent, it will then bring the challenge of attempting to sketch almost nothing in the dark night sky.

I got a brief look at it in the 8.75" a couple of nights ago and it had expanded and faded noticably alright, but still quite bright overall. Your sketch is very much what I saw at 33x - definite elongation of the inner coma. If you want to use the 20" before it fades from view (and gets too big to fit in the field of view!) then give me a bell the next clear evening you're free.

Philip.

Nice job Kieran, shows the increase of size nicely. And in such a short space of time... wow.

Wonderful job Kieran!
Really gives you a sense of how dramatic this event is.

A class image Kieran !

A wee mosaic put together by aligning background stars. Individual images were at different exposures and image scales. Left to right: 26th Oct, 28th Oct, 29th Oct, 1st Nov and 3rd Nov

Truly fabulous - I love it. 8-)

Just managed to get a few minutes through the cloud this evening and I'm afraid to say that this is the end of Holmes, unless we get another outburst.
It is now just a very faint smudge around Mirfak. Even through 15x70s it was barely discernable, at first I thought it was just some cloud.
It was enjoyable while it lasted - Where its off to now depends on how much mass remains.

Yes John, I have to agree there.
We had a brief look at it tonight at an impromptu club observing session.
Through a 12'' Dob I could clearly see Mirfak and Holmes was just a very diffuse 'cloud' just above it.
It had an elongated look to it.
I could not see any sign of a nucleus at all.
Through 10x50 binos the fuzz ball was much more discernible, naked eye I could
just make it out using averted vision.
I observed it the night before last and the difference is quite obvious.
A nice show while it lasted.
It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

hello again

my contibution this time a picture made on 19 nov. just 2 JPG's
minus the black's etc.
I thouht it would be nice to put it here but i can't get my picture in this box,
so i can only give the URL of it and my web-folder
There is also this compilation like phoenix did with my everlasting moon.
although if i look at it, it looks like i made a litle mistake in its direction but im not shure, for now i leave it that way.
have to look at that more carefully

picasaweb.google.nl/H.Nieborg/Astrofotos...#5134390782641263426

picasaweb.google.nl/H.Nieborg/Astrofotos...#5135300048692663138

clear skies

That's a beaut Henk. Could be a winner in this months photo competition, don't forget to enter it.

Henk - they are both wonderful shots. The stand alone is excellent. But I think I prefer the sequence shot - puts the development of the comet into context.

As John says, I think either would be a strong contender in the competition!

Cheers
Dave

Very nice images there Henk,
The comet has deteriorated alot over the last week, we had a look at it through the 20" and it is now a faint arc near Mirfak in Perseus, seems like its one the way out.

Looked for comet Holmes last night with binoculars and as expected it was not up to much, this was around 11-pm, at 6am this morning I had another look, this time it was excellent, not far off the best I have seen in recent weeks, why, because the moon had set, comet Holmes is excellent still when there is no light pollution
Best views Ive had of the comet were in my 8" Meade, ive not taken the 20" out this season, need help colliminating it big time, every time I try it gets worse, comet was pretty ok with the etx 90 and better with the 125, the 8" leaves is easily ahead of the 2 etx's

Mirphak with Holmes last night not long after midnight.

The bow shock looks really cool in that pic!

You get the real impression of the comet plowing through a medium.

Bart.

need help colliminating it big time, every time I try it gets worse,

I feel your pain Charles! Going through similar issues myself with the 16". Have it very nearly sorted now. The offset built into the secondary holder sent my little head spinning for a while.