Short, but nice observation session tonight +new image

Vladimir Afanasiev

We were really lucky to get cloudless skies tonight. From downtown Walnut Creek it was only one target for me today – Comet Holmes, of course.

Naked eyes observation – really the best compared with all the previous days – large, fuzzy, quite a new sight in the familiar area. Not as bright as last week, but much more pleasing view. Binocular view – even better! Bright comet, nice field stars. Easy to distinguish sharp leading edge and the “tail” area blending into the darkness. Telescopic view – 80 mm refractor. Frankly, I prefer binocular view! Still great field, nice roundish, clearly asymmetric object. Unlike the week ago, it is more difficult to see the nucleus – just brighter offcenter area. I captured the image with 80 mm refractor and StarShoot II camera, 20 min total exposure. Cannot really tell that the picture matches the visual impression, but it looks nice anyway. Please take a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11464817@N03/1944609890/ Field of view at shown at this image is about 25’. It clearly defines the size of the comet. Just think about it – couple more days and it will be about the Moon size.

Well, it almost does it for me – I am out of the field of view of my scope/camera combination. Need to switch to mosaics, or get a focal reducer…

Cheers,

Vladimir