Posts Made By: Dave Mitsky

The actual change in brightness was over 14 magnitudes (over 500,000 times) from 17 something to 2.5! The source that I quoted had it wrong.

There are articles on (and pictures of) this historic outburst at
http://www.spaceweather.com/ and http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071025-comet-holmes.html

Dave Mitsky

If this is going to be the only telescope you ever own, the 8-inch is the better choice. The jump from 6 to 8 inches is the most cost effective one in Newtonian telescopes.

Dave Mitsky

It was obvious after looking at the comet from the Naylor Observatory for a period of a couple of hours on Sunday night that the three other "pseudonuclei" (two of which were rather faint) that I could see through the Astronomical Society of Harriburg's 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at magnifications of 162 (40mm University Optics MK-70), 202 (32mm University Optics Koenig-II), and 259x (25mm University Optics MK-70) were merely field stars. Apparently, the two stars near the true pseduonucleus (is that an oxymoron?) were GSC0333400738 (magnitude 10.9) and GSC0333400788 (magnitude 8.7).

Dave Mitsky

According to the veteran observer and writer Tom Polakis, the main coma (not the faint outer halo) has been expanding at a constant velocity of 575 meters/sec since the time of the initial outburst on October 24. This means that by Saturday, November 3, it will be 15 arc minutes in diameter and a week later an incredible 25 arc minutes. These figures correspond to physical diameters of 1,065,930 and 1,776,551 kilometers.

The faint outer halo, of course, is much larger.

Dave Mitsky

The skies cleared unexpectedly last night but I was too tired to drive to the ASH Naylor Observatory or even to set up my wife's 6" Orion XT6 but I did look at 17P/Holmes a couple of times with my Celestron 8x42 binocular. It was quite close to Mirfak and Melotte 20. I couldn't see the comet naked-eye with non-dark adapted eyes and the local light pollution.

Dave Mitsky

I observed and imaged the so-called Lunar X from 2:05 to 2:25 UT with the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain, despite the fact that the Moon was quite low in the sky and was obscured at times by patchy clouds. I used my Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR both at prime focus and with eyepiece projection (32mm Brandon).

Dave Mitsky

Here's a prime focus shot of Mars and the Moon that I took at approximately 9:30 p.m. EST (2:30 UT) with my Canon Digital Rebel DSLR and 80mm Orion ShortTube 80 achromat stopped down to just 42mm.

Dave Mitsky

Here are my top five observing experiences:

5) Attending the 1995 Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys, five fantastic nights of latitude adjustment and conducting observations of great southern deep-sky objects like the Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372), NGC 3532 (the best open cluster in the heavens), Centaurus A (NGC 5128), the Jewel Box, and the Coal Sack in t-shirts and shorts. The absolute highpoint was seeing Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) through Tom Clark's 36" f/5 Tectron Yard Scope and a 27mm Tele Vue Panoptic. The Gegenschein was visible and thanks to the WSP's renowned sub-arc second seeing we were able to observe Mars at over 900x. I saw Alpha Centauri for the first time through many telescopes and split Antares B for the first time through Barry Greiner's (of D & G Optical) 5" D & G refractor. B33 (the Horsehead Nebula) was a very easy target for the Yard Scope.

4) The 2002 Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, Pennsylvania, was a wonderful experience. It was clear for a week (Uranus was easily visible without optical aid) and on the final night we were treated to a spellbinding auroral display. The transparency was remarkable that morning and I saw more color in M42 than ever before, the Horsehead Nebula without a H-beta filter, and plentiful nebulosity (NGC 1435) in the Pleiades.

3) Observing with the 30" Tectron at almost 7000 feet at New Mexico Skies for five nights in the fall of 2005. Highlights included seeing a number of bolides that illuminated the ground, the Double Quasar, IC 5148 in Grus, the globular cluster Pease 1 in M15, the Fornax Galaxy Cluster, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula (Van den Berg 142, also known as the Elephant Trunk Nebula) in IC 1396, and the devilishly difficult Hind's Variable Nebula (NGC 1555), which was perhaps the toughest observation that I've ever made.

2) Using a 22" Starmaster at an altitude of 12,500 feet on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the Bolivian altiplano in 2004. I worked through the entire AL Southern Skies Telescopic Club list and would have been the first to complete it had I bothered to send in my observations. Logging star clusters and HII regions within the LMC and SMC was a gas and viewing the great globular clusters Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) through the 22" at over 500x was a truly mindblowing experience. My friend Tony Donnangelo and I observed with David Levy on several of the nights.

1) Viewing the 1998 total solar eclipse through 10x50 binoculars and a newly acquired Orion ShortTube 80 from the forward deck of the MS Veendam off the coast of Aruba. This was an absolutely magnificent experience that is hard to describe in words. During the cruise we able to observe southern objects through binoculars and small telescopes (at low magnifications) from the stern, port, and aft decks at night. I had my first view of the Tarantula Nebula in the LMC during the cruise. My friend Kent Blackwell's Big Eyes giant naval binoculars provided spectacular views of the southern Milky Way and DSOs like the Coal Sack and the Pipe Nebula.

I've had many other great nights at places like Cherry Springs, Spruce Knob in West Virginia, Dolly Sods in West Virginia, the Stellafane grounds in Vermont, Anderson Mesa and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but the above top the list.

Dave Mitsky

That's an excellent first effort, Mark.

Dave Mitsky

It's Comet 8P/Tuttle.

http://www.spaceweather.com

Dave Mitsky