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Philip Lardner
Main Sequence
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 284
Location: Bray, Co. Wicklow
IFAS Club: SDAS
|  Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:07 am Post subject: Astronomy related injury - (Comet Holmes through the 20" |  |
| I'm suffering from a broken jaw tonight... after it hit the ground in freefall when I got to see Comet Holmes, first through binoculars and then (and this is where the damage occured) through the 20" f/4. Ouch... and WOW!!!!!! 
This is a truely stunning object. There is a near-stellar nucleus (like a very slightly defocused star, but not visible in my pic) towards the edge of a bright central (to the object as a whole) coma. This inner coma is then surrounded by a dark annular ring, which in turn is surrounded concentrically by a bright but diffuse halo. The whole object is massive!!!
I grabbed my compact digital camera (an old Minolta F100) and simply held it up to the eyepiece and snapped away. This image is the result of a three second exposure. The bright points may be stars or they may be hot pixels! The image is unprocessed in any way - straight off the camera.
The scope has a focal length of 2037mm and I had a 12mm Nagler eyepiece up the spout.
Wow!
Phil.
PS - there may be a problem with the link - the pic doesn't display for me unless I right-click on it and select 'View Image.' Go figure!
Last edited by Philip Lardner on Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:00 pm; edited 4 times in total | |
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John Murphy
Red Giant
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 621
Location: South Dublin
IFAS Club: IAS
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:34 am Post subject: | |
| Nope can't see it either!!!
Saw and shot it tonight though, reckon its better than mag 2.0 at present and getting brighter.
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Regards & Clear Skies,
John Murphy
http://www.irishastrosoc.org | |
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Dave Lillis
IFAS Secretary
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 5326
Location: Limerick (Shannonside AC)
IFAS Club: SAC
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:31 am Post subject: | |
| I can see the pic Phil, although it might help if you reduce the size of the image.
Here is what happened when holmes discovered it in 1892
Upon turning the reflector toward that region,
he saw what he thought was M31 enter the field of the finder,
but when he looked through the eyepiece he saw something different.
Holmes said he "called out involuntarily, 'What is the matter? There is
something strange here.'
I think we can relate to this 
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Dave L.
Observing Coordinator/IFAS Rep. Shannonside Astronomy Club
Secretary, I.F.A.S.
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The 20-inch Obsession scope has been the best form of therapy, try Direct Vision - you'll get used to it  | |
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Philip Lardner
Main Sequence
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 284
Location: Bray, Co. Wicklow
IFAS Club: SDAS
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:50 am Post subject: | |
| Oops - forgot to resize the pic before pasting the link - done now.  Still can't get the link to work properly, though.
Phil. | |
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Philip Lardner
Main Sequence
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 284
Location: Bray, Co. Wicklow
IFAS Club: SDAS
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:03 pm Post subject: | |
| Ok... I think I've sussed it. I've uploaded the image to Flickr AND grabbed the correct URL this time! Have a look at my original post again and you should be able to see my comet photo.
Thanks Dee for the phone-tutorial!
Phil. | |
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Deirdre Kelleghan
Red Giant
Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 588
IFAS Club: IAS
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:24 pm Post subject: post | |
| Hi ya Philip, this really is a WoW comet, even though your image has not been run through a computer software mangle, I can still see the pin point nucleus and the brighter area from that point.
More please
Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society | |
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Dave Grennan
Super Giant
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 1814
Location: Dublin
IFAS Club: SDAS
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:16 pm Post subject: | |
| Geez Phil you scared the crp outta me when I read the first line of your post. Stop it!! My heart ain't what it used to be:)
Congrats on a really good image. Great to capture that much detail in such a short exposure!
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Regards and Clear Skies,
Dave.
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J41 - Raheny Observatory.
http://www.webtreatz.com
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Seanie Morris
More stars than braincells...
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 5664
Location: Daingean, in Offaly.
IFAS Club: TAS
| | Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject: | |
| | Dave Grennan wrote: | | Geez Phil you scared the crp outta me when I read the first line of your post. |
I was thinking the same thing! Phil, it must have been some sight with that 20"...
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Secretary & IFAS Rep,
Tullamore AS
www.tullamorelife.net -> For Tullamore's growing community. | |
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