Expansive Visitation

 

Comet 17/P Holmes 1 

Comet 17/P Holmes sketch 2
By Leonor Ana Hernandez

Hello friends!

This is my vision of this wonderfull comet, I have spent several nights
watching it an thinking: ” Oh! how beautifu!”
I take my graphite pencil and draw it in white paper two times with
different optics.

17/P Holmes

Comet 17/P Holmes sketch 2
By Leonor Ana Hernandez

The big one was with a TMB Refractor 20cm and 2010 F. and the smaller one
with a binocular 12 x 80.  The night was esplendid, the place was located in
La Hita Observatory in Toledo (http://www.lahita.arrakis.es/). With
binocular I could see an halo around the comet, very very pale but visible.
With the telescope was possible to see stars through the comet.

I hope you enjoy them.

Leonor 

Tuttle’s Steady March

Comet 8P/Tuttle

Comet 8P/Tuttle
By Martin Mc Kenna

8P/Tuttle Sketch on Dec 10/11th 2007 using a 8.5″ F/7 reflector with 32mm 1.25″ eyepiece. Tuttle was very high in the circumpolar sky within Cepheus approximately 1.5 degrees from Gamma Cephei – the naked eye star which marks the ‘roof’ of this house-shaped constellation. This sketch shows the position of Tuttle with respect to a triangle of bright field stars at 18.20, 20.13 and 21.55 UT. The comets rapid NE motion is very obvious. This is slow compared to how fast it will be moving when closest to the Earth during late December when it will be a faint naked eye object. The comet is a short period object with prograde motion meaning it moves around the Sun in its orbit in the same direction as the planets and main belt asteroids. The icy nucleus of this comet is several kilometers in diameter. If it hit the Earth it would most likely cause a near extinction event!.
Martin Mc Kenna

Parabolic Leviathan in Perseus

Comet 17P/Holmes

Comet 17P/Holmes
By Michael Rosolina

This is a recent view of the incredible, expanding, and ever-changing comet C17P/Holmes. Holmes is best viewed at low power so the observer can take in the entire coma, now greater in diameter than the Sun.

The outburst which produced this expansion may have a second act–the 1892 apparition had two outbursts about 75 days apart–so Holmes continues to be a worthwhile target for the amateur observer. It is best seen in a moonless sky, although the view holds up amazingly well even when Luna is present.

The sketch was done at the eyepiece with an HB graphite pencil, a blending stump, and a kneadable eraser on Strathmore 400 series 60 pound paper and inverted digitally after scanning.

Michael Rosolina
Friars Hill, WV USA

Ikeya-Zhang’s Ionic Wind Sock

C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)

C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)
By Martin Mc Kenna

C/2002 C1 Ikeya – Zhang on March 20th 2002 at 20.48 LT as seen through the 10X50mm binoculars. The 6 day old waxing crescent moon was high in the SW which drowned out the fainter secrets of the comet however I could still see a tail 7 degrees long which had a ‘forked’ appearance due to the possible detection of the fainter straight blue ion tail at a slight angle from the main dust tail.

The dust and ion tails were superimposed on one another at the time. With binoculars or the naked eye the comet was a pearly white colour however with the light grasp of a telescope one could see the tell tale blue signature of the more subtle and dynamic ion/gas/plasma tail. On March 3rd astrophotographers imaged a rare disconnection event within the ion tail caused by changes in the solar wind. Comet tails are the ‘wind socks’ of the solar system and hence observations and CCD images are of great importance to professional astronomers within this field.

Early Holmes in Charcoal and Graphite

17P/Holmes

Comet 17P/Holmes
By Erika Rix

The comet was created with charcoal loaded onto a thick blending stump. I added some fine touches with a number 2 pencil for accuracy on the brightest areas. The stars were done with a number 2, .5mm and .3mm mechanical pencils.

Observation made with an Orion ED80 on an LXD75 mount, 21-7mm Zhumell eyepeice with diagonal.

Tuttle’s 2007 Debut

Comet 8P/Tuttle
Comet 8P/Tuttle
By Martin McKenna

Comet 8P/Tuttle will be making a noteworthy apparition over the next couple months, passing .25 AU from Earth on January 2nd. Although it could become visible to the naked eye for observers with dark skies, it is still rather faint. Martin McKenna made an early visual observation and sketch of the comet on the evening of November 14/15. Note that since the comet is sketched at an appropriately faint level, any incidental glare on your monitor may make it difficult to see.

Notes from Martin’s observation:
Last night (Nov 14/15th 2007) I made my first visual observation of 8P/Tuttle at 03.58 UT in an incredible sky between banks of thick fog. Tuttle was located in the high northern circumpolar sky below Polaris and not far to the SW of 4th magnitude Delta Ursae Minoris. Using the 8.5″ F/7 reflector with 32mm 1.25″ eyepiece I conducted a systematic search through this area without success as on previous nights. However I managed to catch the comet which surprised me after 45 minutes of fruitless searching. The comet was extremely faint and looked like a circular patch of green haze in a field of faint stars. Tuttle was extremely diffuse – difficult to tell where the coma ended and the sky began. At centre I could see a faint pin prick condensation. No tail observed. It was observed faintly with direct vision however averted vision was needed to see its full extent. I was delighted to finally catch Tuttle at such a faint magnitude and look forward to watching its rapid development. 17P/ Holmes and 8P/Tuttle where a real treat at this silent hour of the night. This is my 42nd observed comet.

Mag: + 10.9 – 11.0, Dia: 3′, D.C: 2

Martin McKenna’s Comet Sketches

Early Details of a Golden Comet

17P/Holmes17P/Holmes
Periodic Comet
By Eric Graff

Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
7.5mm Parks Gold Series Plössl • 120x, 26′ Field of View
26 October 2007 • 09:45-10:15 UT

On the 23-24th of October, 2007 Comet 17P/Holmes experienced a major outburst, increasing its brightness 1 million times in just a few short hours, rising from 17th to 2nd magnitude. Such events are usually caused by the sudden release of gas and/or dust particles from the comet (the yellow color suggests the latter, in this case). During the early morning hours of October 26, the smoke from the Southern California fires had cleared sufficiently to make this observation. To the unaided eye, 17P rivaled the brightest “star” in the constellation Perseus – appearing only slightly less prominent than magnitude 1.8 Alpha (α) Persei (Mirfak). In 10×50 binoculars it had a bright yellow hue and looked slightly fuzzy or unfocused.

Through the eyepiece of my telescope the golden hue was striking as was its brilliance, near-perfect circular symmetry, and sharp stellar pseudo-nucleus. It resembled a huge, bright, yellow planetary nebula about 4′ in diameter. At high magnifications (120x, 240x) the central regions of the comet displayed considerable detail. A bright arc of material extends from the nucleus from south to west, with three prominent streamers involved in and extending from this arc. The circular coma has a somewhat annular appearance. Beyond the bright circular coma, two faint plumes of material, one to the northwest (elongated) and the other to the south-southeast (very broad and diffuse) could be detected by gently rocking the scope from side to side.

This comet was discovered by British astronomer Edwin Holmes on November 6, 1892 while conducting observations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). The entirety of its 6.88 year orbit is spent between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Checkmark LONEOS

C/2007 F1 LONEOS

C/2007 F1 (LONEOS)
By Martin Mc Kenna

Observation notes from Martin’s website entry:

Despite a poor sky with cloud, haze and chimney smoke along with a developing frost the sky cleared from the west on Oct 17/18th and I found the comet extremely quickly at 19.10 BST to the west and slightly south of Arcturus in the darkening evening twilight.

The coma was thin, compact, very well condensed with clearly defined edges where the coma meets the sky. It was wrapped tightly around a large white disk-like central condensation with a tear drop appendage from which a long spine ran into the tail. The coma was elongated away from the Sun and sported several fanning streamers similar in profile to a ‘shuttle cock’. The coma was a white-grey tone however no green could be seen.

The ion tail was blue, very straight, extending for 1 degree to the W of N and broadened with distance away from the Sun. Delicate long blue streamers could be glimpsed in fleeting moments of good clarity. I suspect the tail is MUCH longer than this. I was able to confirm something I have suspected since the morning of the 16th – a faint dust tail visible to the E of N leaving at a shallow angle from the coma perhaps 5′ long. The leading sunward edge of this tail is the brightest component. It will be interesting to watch its development. This is my best evening view of the comet to date.

Lost the comet to cloud so I did a little deep sky work then watched the waxing crescent Moon with earthshine set over the mountains with compact orange corona and long but faint pillar. For icing on the cake a V-shaped formation of geese flow overhead calling as they headed to the NE with bellies and wings lit orange from the town lights!.

Mag+ 6.0 Dia: 3′ D.C: 7/

Martin’s gallery of comet sketches can be found here:
Nightsky Hunter – Comet Sketches

Holmes in a Spin

Comet-17P/Holmes

Comet 17/P Holmes
28th October 2007
18:40 UT Mag 2
Reflector FL 1200mm/8mm eyepiece/150X Pastel/Conte/Black Paper

Here is my sketch from October 28th, I got going early to avoid the predicted cloud cover. I had a long look into the halo around the nucleus. The material emanating from the pin point center seemed to be heading in a more southerly direction than I had observed in previous evenings. I could see darker areas fanning in the opposite direction in the inner halo. A star was visible just inside the outer halo. Because I could see a star through the out gassing then it must be very thin? The star was visually similar in size to the comet nucleus but a little dimmer. Sometimes the coma seemed to momentarily have transparent spaces within it. I have not seen a star in the area of the dark spaces, I wonder if these spaces are filled with dust?

All this was visible even though there was a 17 day moon rising almost directly under the icy action.

Deirdre Kelleghan
President
Irish Astronomical Society 1937 – 2007
Public Relations Officer IFAS
http://www.deirdrekelleghan.com/
http://homepage.eircom.net/~irishas/index.htm
http://www.irishastronomy.org/

Outburst of Comet Holmes

Holmes sketch 1 

Many veteran comet observers regard the outburst of Comet Holmes (17P)
as one of the oddest sights they have seen.  Not only was the sudden
brightening unprecedented in modern times, but the perspective we have
of this distant comet gave it an appearance all its own.   From night to
night you can see it growing in size and yet, due to the dimming of the
expanding coma,  it maintains a fairly constant brightness when viewed
naked eye.

Initially, the first images of this comet online indicate that is
difficult to capture the visual appearance with our imaging technology
and sketching is proving to be a satisfactory way to convey the visual
perspective at the eyepiece.   I quickly opted for the sketching option,
but soon found that I had trouble getting a perfectly round coma that
also conveyed the contrasty ‘pop’ that this comet presented that first
night after announcement of the outburst.   So instead of just using
image processing programs to get my onscreen-sketch looking like my
on-paper sketch,  I decided to try to do more than embellish it and do
the sketch entirely with the image processing program.  I refer to this
as digi-sketching.

Holmes sketch 2

So here is a series three ‘sketches’.  The first is my original ‘paper
sketch’  captured and rendered to reflect what I had on paper.  It was
graphite on paper with the colour added digitally.   It was
disappointing to me in that the brightness, contrast and the colourful 
‘pop’ factor of this weird sight in northern Perseus was not entirely
captured.   The second sketch is my digi-sketch version of that same
night based on my original sketch.  I soon appreciated that I could
quickly and easily correct some failings of the original.   The third
sketch is from three days later and is done to the same scale showing
the dramatic changes that took place in this short span of time.  The
image processing program that I used for teh last two images is a PC
version of iPhoto that came with an old scanner.  This makes me wonder
what is possible with some of the newer and more capable image
processing programs.

Comet Holmes 3

All three sketches were done from my view through a 12.5 inch home-made
Dobsonian using a Discovery mirror.   Binoviewers 23mm eyepieces and a
2x barlow gave a magnification of something well over 250x.    The first
two sketches are a result of my observations on the night of October
24th at around 10:45 CDT (UT 3:45 Oct 25th 2007).   The third sketch was
done on October 27 CDT at 11 PM (UT 4:00 on Oct. 28th 2007).   Note the
two 11th magnitude stars that could be seen shining through a relatively
colourless coma in this third sketch (bottom/south part of the coma
about 1/4 the way in).  Since the equipment is constant for both nights,
the images can be directly compared for size and this gives one an idea
of just how quickly this comet grew in size. 

This has to be one of the oddest and most unusual events in comet watching.

Gerry Smerchanski