New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes

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.