Holmes Comet

Jeff Gortatowski

Obviously the 'peachy' color I saw was more due to the smoke in the air than the makeup of the comet. This morning the air was still and the smoke was a high cloudy haze. That allowed me to enjoy my own personal total lunar eclipse resplendent in the very same coppery tone we all know and love. To give you another data point Mars and Venus were roughly the same color (though Venus still brighter of course). So the smoke is probably where my peach or light orange color came from.

I had fairly good view of Comet Holmes this morning at about 5:20am PDT (10/25/07) even though the smoky haze was worse than it was just 7 hour prior. I could not see the comet naked eye - but I could not see Polaris either. However using 10x50 binoculars I was able to easily 'guess' the location and found it. I thought there was a fan shape in the binoculars I had not seen the night before. That could again an illusion caused by the smoke or by hand holding the binoculars. But that is the impression I got even propping the binoculars up against my truck. Guess I should check the net somewhere where it's dark.

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

OMG! Its full of stars.
Golden State Star Party
Join Mailing List		 Mailing List Archives

Current Observing Intents
Click here for more details.