Comet 17P Holmes (Oct 24 11 pm MDT)
Comet 17P Holmes was magnitude 16.9 and then brightened to naked eye visibility. It appears to me to be about the same brightness as Epsilon Perseus or about magnitude 2.9. It is a beautiful object to view in the eyepiece. A small, bright, almost starlike, center nucleas surrounded by very distinct coma. The yellowish color is very noticable. Its one of those objects that photos fail to capture, or at least any that I’ve seen thus far. There is a large variation in brightness between the brilliant core and surrounding nucleus which makes it difficult for astrophotographers. Our eyes capture the variation quite easily.
Image taken with a Celestron Nexstar11 Telescope and Phillips 840K webcam (yes a webcam!). Sky was clear, transparency very good, turbulence very good 6/10, temperature 54°F, no wind, bright, nearly full moon.