Quote:
Originally Posted by ngc3314
Just watch it grow! This set of images is displayed in matching logarithmic scales, and taken 20 hours apart today. To first order, one expects the total brightness to be constant, and the surface brightness to drop as the square of the linear expansion factor (as long as the dust particles stay the same). To my eye, it was distinctly fuzzy with the naked eye tonight, but not particularly less prominent overall than last night.
I am struck that the offset of the brightest diffuse region from the apparent nucleus is more or less perpendicular to the project orbital motion (which is nearly to the right in these images). This is not to suggest that I have any profound idea as to what that means. However, I am now convinced that the ringlike structures are real, even without having a chance to do any detailed image modelling or filtering...
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With that much increase in less than one day, is the magnitude still considered 2.5 ?
I can see it with my naked eyes even with the moon in the sky. It's pretty clear here on the coast tonight. Like someone said earlier......... looks kind of like a dandelion with my 8 power binoculars.