2007-10-29
| Location: | Billingborough (South Lincolnshire, UK) |
| From: | 2007-10-29 20:50 UT |
| To: | 2007-10-29 21:10 UT |
| Equipment: | Naked Eye Meade 10x50 Binoculars |
| Temperature: | 7.4°C ... |
| Dew Point: | 4.3°C ... |
| Humidity: | 81% ... |
| Wind Speed: | Calm ... |
| Pressure: | 1011.6hPa ... |
| Notes: |
Since first hearing about its outburst I've been unable to observe comet Holmes. Tonight was quite clear but I was out for the early part of the evening. After I got home I headed out with the binocular to have a look. |
Comet 17P/Holmes
| From: | 2007-10-29 20:50 UT |
| To: | 2007-10-29 21:10 UT |
|
When I got outside I noticed that there was a huge bank of cloud heading in from the west. By the looks of things I only had 15 or 20 minutes to observe before the cloud would be a problem. Even to the naked eye it was obvious where the comet was. It was obvious that Perseus contained a (slightly fuzzy looking) star that shouldn't be there. I roughly estimated its magnitude to be around that of Delta Persei. With the binocular the view was very different. The comet was a large, circular fuzzy patch, somewhat reminiscent of a planetary nebula (albeit brighter and bigger than any I've observed before). I could make out that the brightness seemed to vary slightly over the diameter of the comet and that it looked a little denser out towards the edge. Ideally I'd have liked to have gone on to get the 130M or the 905 out to have a better look but, sadly, by 21:10 UT the bank of cloud had moved in and I could no longer see the comet. |
