All,
Tonight was the first clear night for seven or eight days, and the moon has not yet risen. Comet Holmes is still an easy naked eye object. It is much larger now, and I can see it has a very comet-like appearance, somewhat rounded and sharp edged on one side and vague and indistinctly fading into darkness on the other. It is very bright in 10x50 binoculars.
At 40x, Holmes nearly fills the FOV of my 90mm refractor, much, much larger than the full moon. A longish oval or spindle shaped bright area is in the middle. The sharp edge still looks like the coma a few weeks ago, with a bright outer ring and dimmer inside. Many background stars are visible through the coma.
I encourage you all to get out and have a look at this comet, especially before moonrise.
Regards,
Rick W
Tonight was the first clear night for seven or eight days, and the moon has not yet risen. Comet Holmes is still an easy naked eye object. It is much larger now, and I can see it has a very comet-like appearance, somewhat rounded and sharp edged on one side and vague and indistinctly fading into darkness on the other. It is very bright in 10x50 binoculars.
At 40x, Holmes nearly fills the FOV of my 90mm refractor, much, much larger than the full moon. A longish oval or spindle shaped bright area is in the middle. The sharp edge still looks like the coma a few weeks ago, with a bright outer ring and dimmer inside. Many background stars are visible through the coma.
I encourage you all to get out and have a look at this comet, especially before moonrise.
Regards,
Rick W
8" Zhumell Dob
90mm f11 achro refractor
4-1/2 f4 rich field newt reflector
