17P/ Holmes @ f/6.3

[Outbackmanyep]

Imaged tonight using the 8" Celestron SCT @ f/6.3

Canon 400D @ ISO 1600, 75 sec exp!

Image has not been processed at all!

I took drift timings visually, and averaged over 8 timings, the coma measured 20 arc minutes in diameter, easily seen from dark skies!!

:cheers:

[fringe_dweller]

:prey2: :eyepop: you're full of surprises dude! didnt know you had got into prime focus? how long have you been doing that now?
cheers :thumbsup:

[RB]

Excellent capture, well done !!!

:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Wow that's fantastic, great capture!

[Dietmar]

very nice detail!

[Garyh]

nice one from the highlands!
well done!

[Outbackmanyep]

Thanks guys!
I love digital imaging now!
If only i had the capabilities to use photoshop properly!




I been doing prime focus since 2004, slowly building my arsenal of equipment...
The only thing i need now is to find a really good refractor and mounts for guidescope, as this comet didnt give me much in the way of guide stars to guide on using the radial guider.
My 8" SCT is a 91 model and doesnt have GOTO or AUTOGUIDING capabilities so i did a lot of hand guiding/correction using PEC.
I used to use my Minolta 7000 but now the Canon has taken over, i still like the film cameras, trick is to find decent people to print them!!

Cheers!

[h0ughy]

fantastic image, well done - wow who would have thought you would have been able to bag two bright comets in the one year. A deserving reward

[Ric]

Well done OBMY, that's a fantastic looking image.

I find it a fascinating comet as I have always been brought up with the traditional comet and tail and this is something totally different.

Cheers

[Outbackmanyep]

Well you could imagine Edwin Holmes discovering this thing during the outburst it went through on 6th Novmeber,1892, what went through his mind, just like the Transit of Venus was to Cook, this is how they must have seen it all them years ago!

Whats interesting about it is that we dont know what mechanisms caused the outburst, it could be a build up of CO gases which caused a rupture of the surface exposing fresh ices to sunlight which then sublimate and release dust particles, mostly microns in size, which reflect sunlight causing the brightening.....others believe that amorphous ices, when they warm up, begin to crystallize creating pressure under the surface which then cracks and spews out CO and other gases/dust......or it could be a part of the loosely bound nucleus that has split off creating the outburst, or it could be that i has impacted with something like an asteroid..............
The good thing is that is a short period comet, approx. 7 years, and perhaps a cheap spacecraft could be sent to image the nucleus on its next close approach to find out what happened!

[Tamtarn]

Great image OBMY we're still shrouded in cloud down here

[Outbackmanyep]

Its just come over cloudy here, i see on BOM site that SW Qld might get a good drop! they need it!

[tornado33]

Great shot there, nice close up.
Scott

[fringe_dweller]

thanks for info Chris, I realised later that i had asked the same dumb question of you back with P1 in jan :doh:
my experience with guided piggyback stuff was purely all hand guided in the old sense of the terminology - can be a pain in the neck/back ect. lol
imagine being able to visually observe while taking pics like the guys with all the whizbang stuff ! must be nice, we can dream i guess ")
you do well for hand guided, even with pec eh! onya