Re: 17P/Holmes dust structure

On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:52:09 -0600, Chris L Peterson
<clp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I was able to get a deep image of the comet tonight without any
moonlight or dust to interfere. Multiple dust lanes are now visible in
the central coma. Clearly, there is some interesting stuff going on
inside. I still can't pull out any hint of a tail (at least, nothing
outside the coma).

The visible coma is about 10 arcmin across, and the entire coma as seen
in an image is about 20 arcmin across. That means Holmes is now the
largest thing in the Solar System, bigger even than the Sun. The latest
image is at the bottom of
http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/comet/holmes.html .

The tail needs a long exposure. I can pick it up with 5 minute ISO800
shots but it's very indistinct. 45 minutes (9x5 minute) of imaging on
the 29th recorded it with a lot of image stretrching.

Last night I took a number of 20 minute SXV-H9 shots and it's clearly
evident on each shot. I'll process and post these later.
--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk
.

Relevant Pages

  • 17P/Holmes dust structure
    ... moonlight or dust to interfere. ... Multiple dust lanes are now visible in ... outside the coma). ... The visible coma is about 10 arcmin across, and the entire coma as seen ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: 17P/Holmes dust structure
    ... Multiple dust lanes are now visible in ... the central coma. ... outside the coma). ... The visible coma is about 10 arcmin across, and the entire coma as seen ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)