Archives for October 2007
Venus in the Morning
Published on 31 Oct 2007 at 10:55 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under skywatching.
If you get up a little before dawn and look to the East, you can’t help seeing an extremely bright object in the sky. That is the planet Venus. There is no way to miss it (unless a tree or building is in the way!).
Venus outshines anything else in the sky except the […]
Yet another Comet Holmes Photo
Published on 29 Oct 2007 at 5:37 pm.
10 Comments.
Filed under astrophotography, comets.
One of my readers, Don Spain, send me this image that he took of the comet. I am posting it with his permission. The object is 17P/Holmes. The photo was taken through a 152mm achromat with an IR cutoff filter.
In the photo, you see what look like two bright nuclei. In […]
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Comet Holmes and Perseus
Published on 28 Oct 2007 at 12:16 am.
9 Comments.
Filed under astrophotography, comets.
I took this photo a few hours ago.
It shows the comet in the constellation Perseus over the roof of my house. You can compare the photo with the finder chart that I created for my October 25 posting. Â The photo was taken with a 6 second exposure using a Pentax K110 digital SLR, […]
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Another Comet Holmes Photo
Published on 27 Oct 2007 at 4:22 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under astrophotography, comets.
Here is another photo of Comet P/17 Holmes. It was taken by Steve Tuttle, and he gave me permission to post it on my web page. He’s a very good astrophotographer, and he’s got some good photos on his web site. Click on the photo for a larger view and more information […]
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Comet Holmes Update
Published on 26 Oct 2007 at 10:43 am.
12 Comments.
Filed under astrophotography, comets.
Comet 17P/Holmes continues to be bright. Last night I set up a telescope with a few students of the astronomy club and managed to take the following pictures. They aren’t great, but they give an impression of what the comet looks like.
The images were taken with a Nikon D70 at prime focus on […]
Palomar Spared?
Published on 25 Oct 2007 at 6:09 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under observatories.
A while back, when I was writing my series on the Seven Wonders of Astronomy, I picked the Palomar Observatory as one of the wonders. Over the last week, as news poured out of southern California about the awful fires, I gradually became more concerned about the safety of the observatory. It was […]
Naked Eye Comet!!!!
Published on 25 Oct 2007 at 1:52 am.
11 Comments.
Filed under comets, observing.
Wow. Earlier today, I read Tom’s posting that a comet had suddenly brightened. The comet in question is Comet 17P/Holmes. Normally, this comet is pretty dim and uninspiring. In fact, as recently as in the last few days, it was quite dim. Then, suddenly, the comet went into an outburst. […]
