Short OR for short session - Coe 30 Dec 2007

Matthew Marcus

Another observer had posted an OI for Coe, and Steve pointed out that the CSCs showed high humidity for Lake Sonoma, so I went to Coe. There was nobody else there. It was COLD and, as Coe is notorious for, windy. The seeing was such that Mars twinkled as it came up over the ridge to the NE. I cowered in my warm car until it got dark, then went after my major targets. Comet Holmes is *still* easy naked-eye from Coe. In the C8, it showed a teadrop shape, rather than the round appearance it presented to the naked eye. I suspect that one of the many stars visible inside the round part was actually the head, but I didn't mag up on it and look. To the naked eye, the surface brightness was only a little less than that of the Double Cluster, but the comet appeared smaller. I then went for M33, knowing that Tuttle was nearby. It had been so long since I've been out that I came upon a fuzzy patch, said "there it is", only to find the real M33 a little to the N. I had done a 'reverse Messier', confusing a comet for a galaxy. Of course, once I saw both, it was pretty obvious which one was which. The comet was brighter (surface) and smaller than the galaxy, which showed hints of spiral. I went for Mars, which by that time had quit twinkling, at 125x. Between the wind and the seeing, I couldn't see much except for a suspected dark marking near the center. After looking at the Double Cluster, the Pleiades and M42 (just rising), I gave up, figuring that I had a couple more possible nights. I was out of there by 6:40.

mam

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