
New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
- paulevans
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- TrevorDurity
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- Seanie_Morris
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Replied by Seanie_Morris on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Comet definetly shows a very bright nucleus (slightly-elongated perhaps?) with a bright diffuse region surrounding it. Nucleus appears off-centre relative to surrouding material.
I wonder then Mike if the way you have seen it is how it is travelling? I mean, it is down as travelling 10 arcmin per day, so maybe before dawn, you'll definitely notice that elongation get more elongated.

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- michaeloconnell
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Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
I'd agree with that mag. estimate.This comet is easy to spot naked eye even with the Moon and suburban skies and really bright in binoculars. It's in the same binocular FOV as Delta Persei and in my opinion the same magnitude, i.e. 3.0. It's like a nova has appeared in Perseus!
BTW, good to see you back here Gordon.
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- Frank Ryan
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Replied by Frank Ryan on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
:shock:
Too easy!
I could still spot it naked eye through 2 street lights.
It's sort a yellow alright.
It's also oval or sort of elongated as Trev said.
Lets hope it go's McNaught on our asses!
:wink:
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Replied by Frank Ryan on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
:roll:
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- DaveGrennan
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Replied by ftodonoghue on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
time to haul out the dob before bed. Lets hope it keeps on brightening. just had a peep in cartes du ciel, its moving away from the sun, but it gets closest to us on 5th november at 1.603 au. at the moment it is 1.635 au from us.
Trevor
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- michael_murphy
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Replied by michael_murphy on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
I had to double check in the NS11 as I thought it was star in the binoculars. I didn't even have to plug it in - just pointed the finder scope at it and it popped up in the eyepiece. It's the first comet I've been able to find without computer aid!
It looked round to me rather than elongated as if we were seeing it head on.
Michael.
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- michaeloconnell
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Replied by michaeloconnell on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Ah, so it's not just me then. Tried to grab a few shots also but nothing worth posting.I'm trying to image it to get some kind of detail in the core. 0.2 of a second just washes out the core and makes it look like a bright star. Some longer exposure CCD shots show no obvious tail. But the Moon gradients could well be masking that, oh why oh why couldn;t this have happened under a new moon!!
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- TrevorDurity
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Replied by TrevorDurity on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
It looks exactly as Michael described - just like a compact glob. Nice halo around it.
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- paulevans
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Replied by Frank Ryan on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
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- DeirdreKelleghan
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Replied by DeirdreKelleghan on topic post
Here is my sketch from earlier this evening. White gel pen
15X70 Binos/ 20:20UT - 24/10/07 It's the bright dot right of Lambada Persei and south of 43 Persei. Perhaps mag 2.5 as it did seem very bright even with the strong moon light.
Perseus/ Comet 17/P Holmes looking much brighter than Delta Persei.
Very non stellar look, in fact in the binoulars I thought it looked a little yellow but that may have been something else?
I also managed a telescopic sketch with a 25mm eyepiece at 48X which showed it to be very circular with perhaps more brightness toward the left as I viewed. The fuzzy outgasing seemed evenly spread in a halo around this icy visitor. Total cloud here in Bray now so perhaps early morning or tomorrow for another look.
Deirdre Kelleghan
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- gnason
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Replied by gnason on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
I'd agree with that mag. estimate.This comet is easy to spot naked eye even with the Moon and suburban skies and really bright in binoculars. It's in the same binocular FOV as Delta Persei and in my opinion the same magnitude, i.e. 3.0. It's like a nova has appeared in Perseus!
BTW, good to see you back here Gordon.
Thanks Michael...I've been absent for a while. Took a break from astronomy but hope to get back into it over the winter.
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Replied by voyager on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Myself and my technically sick partner (who I may have kinda dragged out of bed) just managed to see it through hazy cloud from the middle of the street! Neither the street lights nor the near full Moon could drown this one out!
My detailed report can be found here: www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=561
Bart.
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- JohnONeill
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Replied by JohnONeill on topic Re: New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes
Later in the evening I tried the 4.8mm eyepiece on my 25cm f/5 refl.
Within the very bright disc, there appeared an almost stellar point of light. It was offset very near the edge.
So the comet has four components:
1. Faint diffuse halo, although thin cloud made this difficult to gauge.
2. Bright inner halo.
3. Very Bright central disc.
4. Almost stellar point, offset in the central disc.
(Yes Gordon, it does look like a bright version of the Eskimo Nebula)
It should be interesting to see how it developes (I am sure it will turn cloudy...)
John
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