[AZ-Observing] Re: Comet Holmes tonight
- From: Frank Kraljic <fjkraljic@xxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:37:59 -0700
On Tom's note, I would rate this comet in the top 10 astronomical
objects/event observed in my life.
The comet is golden in appearance, structurally no different than a
planetary nebula, similar to say NGC 6826 or perhaps the Eskimo. At
400 and 560x with a 10-inch, the coma's soft perimeter is a shell
subtlety brighter than the interior, which has some faint mottling
north of the nucleus. An outer halo-esque haze is vaguely apparent
around the coma, but under the full moon and city glow, is marginally
visible with do discernible structure. A "plume" of material is
south and adjacent to the coma, half to 2/3rds the way to the
perimeter shell. Seeing degrades at 560x, however I get the
impression of a faint arc just north by a few arc seconds of the
nucleus.
Thank you to everyone who posted notice, especially Brian Skiff with
his comment, "No, city lights + Full Moon are not a problem." I went
outside and immediately noticed Perseus was not the same constellation.
-FRANK
On Oct 24, 2007, at 10:33 PM, Tom Polakis wrote:
> Not much to add to the great descriptions on this list. I will say
> that it is handling magnification quite well. At 350x, I still
> don't see any size to the perfectly centered nucleus. I would
> hesitate to use this color in astronomical descriptions, but I'm
> seeing it as orange.
>
> Should we expect the diameter of the bright, circular shell to
> increase in the coming days?
>
> There are only a handful of times in my astro observing career
> where I knew right away that I was seeing something for the first
> and last time. The most notable is still Jupiter after Comet S-L 9
> in 1994, but this one is right up there.
>
> Tom
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