More Comet 17/P Holmes

Matthew Marcus

I just observed it from Berkeley, on Grizzly Peak Blvd just above the Space Sciences Institute (well, maybe it's Oakland). This location, in the full moon, is not exactly prime for observing anything, but the comet was easy naked-eye. In an 8x50 finder, it looked like a slightly big star. Only by comparison with alpha Per could I see that it had size. In my trusty C8 at 125x, it was another story!

The comet appeared to consist of two components, a circular disk, sharp-edged and somewhat brighter toward the center, and a fan-shaped condensation which looked something like a miniature of Hubble's Variable Nebula. The disk was several minutes across (I didn't make an attempt to measure). The point of the fan was centered in the disk and the tail reached ~1/3 of the way out to the edge of the disk. The fan pointed ~N and had a bright inner section which was curved to the W (if I have my geometry right - to the right with the point facing up, in an SCT). The fan opened to an angle of maybe 45deg. I think I saw a faint glow around the disk, maybe twice the diameter of the disk, but that might be simply dirty optics. The whole thing was uniformly a whitish-yellow color.

mam

Observing Reports Observing Sites GSSP 2010, July 10 - 14
Frosty Acres Ranch
Adin, CA

OMG! Its full of stars.
Golden State Star Party
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