Pluto 08-08-08

 Soon after I got my Orion Star Shoot camera one of my goals was to image 13.8 magnitude Pluto with my little 4.5" telescope.

This summer on August 8 & 9, 2008 I got a chance to demonstrate the capability of this reflector telescope.

 The two images above show the movement of Pluto on these two consecutive nights!

Comet Holmes November 16 & December 1, 2007

Compare the size of comet Holmes in the above photo I took Saturday night, December 1, to the photo on top taken November 16. The magnification is the same in both photos, about 18 power.

4.5" F/5 reflector, Pentax K1000, Fuji 800 film, 2 minutes.

The view last night, December 4, was amazing. The electric company decided to cut the power for a while to do some transformer maintenance. I guess they figured everyone was sleeping.

Everything went dark just moments after I stepped out of the shower. All the electric power was out for miles around for almost 2 hours. I dressed for my observing session with only a red filter flashlight. My eyes were well adapted to darkness as I stepped out near midnight into a totally dark neighborhood with a sky filled with stars. Comet Holmes was an easy naked eye object almost directly overhead and as big as the Moon!

Halloween Comet Holmes

I took this photo of Comet Holmes and Melotte 20 (the Alpha Persei Star Group) on October 31.

Comet Holmes is bigger than the Moon in this photo when you include the bluish outer coma.

Pentax K1000 camera, 100mm@F/2, Fuji Superia Xtra 800 film, 1 1/2 minutes.

Click on the photo to enlarge for the best view.

Comet Holmes November 7th

This photo was taken on November 7th with 4

Comet Holmes Continues to Amaze

Comet 17P/Holmes is still naked eye, just 1/2 degree northeast of Alpha Persei as I write this on November 18th.

It is larger than the Moon now with lower surface brightness. It is out almost all night long.

This photo was taken on October 29 with my 4.5" reflector, Nikon digital camera, and an 8 second exposure.

Be sure to click on the photo for a full size view.

Comet Holmes November 7th

I took this photo on November 7th with 4.5" F/4 reflector, Pentax K1000 camera, Fuji Superia Xtra 400 film, 30 second exposure.

Comet Holmes in a Super Outburst!

The last time this happened comet 17P/Holmes was hundreds of thousands of times brighter than usual when discovered on November 7, 1892 in London England by E. Holmes. This outburst is bigger. This comet is one million times as bright as just a few days ago before the outburst. No comet in history has ever had an outburst like this. Comet Holmes is a 2.5 magnitude naked eye object in Perseus. It could stay pretty bright for weeks.
Photo of comet 17P/Holmes with 12.5" telescope. For this photo I used 18mm eyepiece, Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera, 2 second exposure.
This photo looks very much as it appeared in the telescope. Note the starlike center and the fan of dust within the coma.