Last night I observed 17P/Holmes again from the ASH Naylor Observatory. A fellow ASH member and I viewed the comet with the ASH 15x70 Barska binocular for a few minutes before going to his 8" f/4.9 Orion Newtonian. His 13mm Orion Stratus eyepiece provided a very nice view of he comet. I then prepared the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain, while Sean readied his scope and computer to image the comet.

I had learned of the comet's faint outer halo on Tuesday via the Internet. Due to a number of factors, I didn't happen to notice it on Monday night but I did indeed detect it on Tuesday evening as a faint glow through the ASH Edmund Scientific Astroscan, the ASH Orion StarBlast, the ASH TAL Newtonian (all slightly more than 4 inch apertures), and the ASH 5" f/5 finder scope using 26, 28, and 32mm oculars. At very low magnification the halo was not noticeable, nor at higher magnifications, although I could make out a very dim glow through the 17" via panning, much to my surprise. Using averted vision didn't seem to make much of a difference, oddly enough. I also viewed 17P/Holmes through the ASH 127mm Orion Maksutov-Cassegrain.

Before the Moon rose, I was able to image the outer halo with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR at exposures well over a minute through the 5" refractor, although the Harrisburg skyglow made the background sky a bit ugly.

I was able to visually detect a hint of bluish color in the outer part of the secondary coma, presumably the result of cyanogen gas. The inner, dusty ejecta region seemed more fan-shaped than it did on Monday night and was distinctly cream colored. The coma continues to expand. I estimate that the bright section subtended some 10 arc minutes.

Today is Halloween and tonight a Great Pumpkin comet will be rising as the creatures of the night come out to play!

Dave Mitsky

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I was able to view it from my light polluted backyard, where it is just barely naked eye visible. It was stunning through my 12X63 Orion binocs. You could clearly see the dark yellowish color and a central core that was obviously brighter than the surrounding halo. Alas, it's cloudy here tonight, so I'll have to dash plans to get out my scope.

Comet Holmes appearance on Oct. 31st.

http://spaceweather.com/comets/holme...-friedman1.jpg

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it's great, but I missed it

It ain't over yet. If you don't live too far south, you'll have plenty of opportunities to see it over the next few weeks . . .