I spent several hours last night at the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's Naylor Observatory observing Comet 17P/Holmes using a fellow ASH member's 11x70 binocular, the ASH 4.25" f/4.2 Edmund Scientific Astroscan at 17 and 34x (26mm Tele Vue Ploessl and 13mm Tele Vue Ploessl), the ASH 5" f/5 achromatic finder scope, the ASH 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Astrola Newtonian and a fellow member's 30mm Orion UltraScan (69x), and the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at 118, 144, 162, 202, 259, and 404x (55mm University Optics Ploessl, 45mm U.O. Ploessl, 40mm U.O. MK-70, 32mm Erfle, 25mm U.O. MK-70, 25mm Celestron orthoscopic, 16mm Brandon). The best views of the night were through the 12.5" at 69x and the 17" at 144x.

17P/Holmes continues to evolve. Last night the coma was far more uniform. There was no obvious demarcation between the inner coma and the outer halo as there had been on Sunday night. The ejecta fan had expanded to an almost circular shape. At 404x, the bright pseudonuclear condensation was clearly non-stellar. I estimated the size of the coma to be approximately 9 arc minutes. The comet did not appear to be quite as yellow as the previous night.

I took a number of tripod-mounted shots of the comet using my Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR and Canon 18-55 and 80-200mm zoom lenses. I also did some eyepiece projection shots through the 5" using a 32mm Brandon and prime focus shots through the 17".

I'll be posting some of my photos sometime soon.

Dave Mitsky

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