Object: Comet 17/P Holmes - Fragmented Tail
Date: 11/08/07 8:36 - 10:14pm MST
Location: ASLC DSO Site near Upham NM
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm refractor @ f/5.6 on a G11 mount
Guiding: DSI-C through a 10" SCT using PHD software
Camera: Modified Canon 350XT
Exposure: 20 x 5 minute
Processing: Registered and stacked (Sigma Clipped Avg.) in ImagesPlus. Final levels and curves in PS. 
Comments: This is an amazing outburst from a comet that was extremely dim just a few weeks ago.  On October 24th the comet roared to life and brightened almost a million fold in a matter of hours to become a naked eye object in Perseus.  The comet is currently near opposition with the Earth and Sun so the main tail is pointed back towards us.  A faint blue ion tail also developed but on November 8th it broke away from the comet.  You can see part of the detached blue tail to the upper right of the main body of the comet.  This is a collaboration with Rich Richins. Rich captured the core region and masked it into the deeper 5 minute stack.

Comments: Same image converted to grayscale and inverted in Photoshop to enhance the faint tail (upper right)

© Dave Dockery 2007