Dave Mitsky
17-November-2007, 09:16 AM
During breaks in the clouds, I observed the comet on Friday night with the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and 5" f/5 achromatic finder scope. The coma was bigger than the largest possible true field of view the 17" can produce, which is approximately 26 arc minutes. I could see the pseudonucleus through the 17". A hint of a tail extended from the ragged, trailing end of the coma. There were well over a dozen stars visible within the coma. Magnifications of 118, 144, 162, and 259x were used.
I also viewed 17P/Holmes at low power (18x) with a 108mm f/4.2 Edmund Scientific Astroscan and with my 8x42 Celestron binocular. The comet was visible to my unaided eyes only with the use of averted vision.
Dave Mitsky
I also viewed 17P/Holmes at low power (18x) with a 108mm f/4.2 Edmund Scientific Astroscan and with my 8x42 Celestron binocular. The comet was visible to my unaided eyes only with the use of averted vision.
Dave Mitsky