Comet 17P/Holmes gone kaboom!

cataclysm · Post by **cataclysm** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:51 pm

Yes, its getting brighter by the day. This guy captured with his ccd, and the brightness almost doubled within the next day. No tail yet.
http://www.svas.org/gallery/main.php/v/ ... s.jpg.html?

Post by **Airconvent** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:37 pm

Its not "no tail yet" but the tail has come and gone when it rounded the Sun. Even if there is one now, it should be pointed away from us because it has past the earth and is moving outwards. It has been clouds clouds clouds so far.

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:23 pm

Now the reports are that the comet may remain bright for weeks although no one can confirm this because its so unpredictable.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071026- ... pdate.html

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:27 pm

I absolutely can't believe it!

I have just been observing Comet Holmes from my room window in the past 10 minutes, right in the centre of town (Singapore).

At about 11.15pm (Sat 27 Oct 2007), I aligned my LX-90 with Mirphak (alpha-Per) and Capella (alpha-Aur). Soon after I hit goto to the Comet, I saw it immediately in the 7x50 finderscope!

It is indeed very bright for a Comet. In the eyepiece (20mm, 100x), it is large and consists of 3 sectors: a bright fuzzy outer patch, an inner brighter core, and a pinpoint bright spot in the centre. There does not appear to be a separate tail but I will now make closer observations.

Knowing where to look, I can even see it with the naked eye, even with the bright glare of the nearly full Moon about 20 degrees away, and hazy skies in a heavily light-polluted city centre.

I would say that the Comet is certainly a lot brighter than Omega Centauri, since it is easier to spot with the naked eye and appears brighter in the eyepiece from our light-polluted skies.

I repeat, I can't believe this Comet! I will now try to photograph it, and am so thrilled!

Post by **weixing** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:46 pm

Hi,
After saw your post, I go out and saw the comet with my 8x42mm bino... yes, it's was so bright and just between the cloud. Activate my Scope now!!

Have a nice day.

Sam Lee · Post by **Sam Lee** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:30 am

Yes yes ! . Thanks to airconvent , i saw the comet through my 7x50 bino.
Its bright and easy to locate !

Sam

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:37 am

And here is a photograph of the Comet which I took about 30 mins ago:

http://www.singastro.org/album_showpage ... pic_id=950

Image description:
Photograph taken of Comet 17P/Holmes on 27 October 2007 at 1606UTC, from city centre of Singapore. Equipment: Canon EOS 350D with 70-300mm zoom lens at 300mm. ISO 800. 2 seconds.

NB: The bright star at the left side of the frame is SAO 24231 (mag 6.18). The star immediately below it is SAO 24241, which TheSky software states to be 8'26" in angular separation.

Seeing that the diameter of the Comet is just over half this distance, I would say that the Comet's diameter is therefore about 5 arcminutes.

(I estimate the field of view of this image to be about 45 arc minutes from left to right.)

Colour wise, visually I see the Comet as essentially greyish-white, with perhaps a very slight warm hue of cream/yellow. In the image, it has a clear greenish hue.

kochu · Post by **kochu** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:03 am

I could get this photo through a window glass pane and probably through clouds and of course moon light. Object could not be seen with naked eye.

Just wondering what magnificient sight it will be on a cloudnless moon less dark night. Photo in album section. Taken with LX90/300D/ 10 x 30 sec shots

Kochu/28-10-07

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:03 am

Just to add... a brightness estimate, and some directions:

It seems to me to be definitely brighter than Omega Centauri, which is listed at around mag 3.0 or 3.5.

Comparing the Comet with the surrounding stars:
With naked eyes, through a 10x50 bino, and using the in-and-out of focus method of comparing through the binos, I would say that it is definitely dimmer than Mirfak (Mirphak) alpha-Per at mag 1.8, but slightly brighter than delta-Per at mag 3.0.

So, perhaps at around mag 2.5 to 2.8.

Next, for those trying to find the Comet from Singapore:
It is located at around due North. It is visible from about 11pm (25 degrees above the horizon at NNE and climbing) right through to 6am (25 degrees above the horizon at NNW and setting). It transits (reaches its highest point in the sky) at around 2.30am at 40 degrees above the horizon at due North.

The Comet is about 4 degrees from Mirphak (alpha-Persei) in the constellation Perseus, so both objects would be just visible in the same field of view of a small binoculars (typically of 6 degrees field of view).

Finally, many thanks to those who started the threads on Singastro to give the news of this Comet. This is where I first found out!

Post by **weixing** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 1:11 am

Hi,
I bring down my grab and go scope and I thought I was fast, but the cloud was even faster... what worst is that I look at the wrong direction this time and waste the time searching the wrong area while the cloud cover up the whole area... even give wrong direction to airconvent... "pai sai" :oops: :oops: Should have just setup my scope at the corridor where I saw it through my bino...

Anyway, thanks for starfinder who post here when he saw the comet or I might not even bother to look for it under the hazy near full moon night. Will try again tomorrow... I mean tonight.

Have a nice day.

SingAstro

Comet 17P/Holmes gone kaboom!

How will be the real 17P