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/
Dee,
It’s a real pleasure to see one of your sketches here again. I first learned about the visibility of this comet through sketches you made. This one is a beauty.
Frank 🙂
Deirdre,
A very enjoyable sketch of this unexpected visitor of the night-sky.
~WadeVC