[AZ-Observing] Re: Comet Holmes and Zorro

["AJ Crayon" <acrayon@xxxxxxx>]

Paul, great to hear from you about such a great observing run.  Wish I could 
have joined in but I'm still recovering from surgery.  These reports are 
good to hear.  Hope to read about more.

Clear skies,
aj

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "L Knauth" <Knauth@xxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 8:12 PM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Comet Holmes and Zorro


I had a terrific observing run at Hovatter Norte last Wednesday and Thursday 
nights.  Thursday night was near perfect transparency and very good seeing. 
Comet Holmes is still nice as a naked eye object.  It is the second 
brightest corner of an irregular triangle with M31 and M33. It sits next to 
Algol, like a smudge on the Medusa's forehead. Comet 8P/Tuttle is a bright 
blob in the telescope, and doesn't have any tail that I could see in the 
25".  It does have a starlike point right at the center.  Other than being 
tinted green, it isn't so spectacular as comets go.

As Steve Coe noted recently, the zodiacal light is incredible this time of 
year.  Once the Moon set, I could see the shadow of my hand on the side of 
the trailer. It extends up almost vertically, and the band forms an "X" with 
the Milky Way with bright red Mars nearby. Beautiful.

In any observing run, you are always left with a few things that strike you 
the most. Inasmuch as this is only about the 6th installment of my re-survey 
of the universe using my new 25" Obsession, there are more than a few 
mind-boggling, mystical sights rummaging around in the old memory today. 
Seeing Hind's variable nebula glowing away in direct vision near T Tauri was 
a treat.  I don't think I ever saw it for sure in my 12.5".  But the real 
gasser for me was NGC 1365 when it crossed the meridian. This was always a 
wonderful object in the 12.5" because you could see the bar shape and stoke 
up the power to see the double nucleus.  With the 25", there is the whole 
crazy "Z" shaped galaxy filling the eyepiece field. Like one of the famous 
photos! The Zorro galaxy.

Paul Knauth

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• Follow-Ups:
  • [AZ-Observing] Re: Comet Holmes and Zorro
    • From: Steve Coe

• References:
  • [AZ-Observing] Re: Tonight's Observing
    • From: beevo1
  • [AZ-Observing] Comet Holmes and Zorro
    • From: L Knauth

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[AZ-Observing] Comet Holmes and Zorro

[AZ-Observing] Re: Comet Holmes and Zorro

[AZ-Observing] Re: Comet Holmes and Zorro