Comets

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="13ea11c3.png"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://members.lycos.co.uk/peterjgarbett" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.lycos.co.uk/peterjgarbett"><B><IMG SRC="14f64510.png" border=0 width="100" height="81" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.lycos.co.uk/peterjgarbett" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.lycos.co.uk/peterjgarbett"><B>Home...</B></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Comets</B><FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Times New Roman" > </FONT></div> <div> <IMG SRC="00758020.png" border=0 width="600" height="2" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Comet 17P/Holmes superoutburst</U></B></div> <bR> <div> This innocuous comet of magnitude 16.9 suddenly brightened dramatically in late October</div> <div> 2007,to be plainly visible as an additional fuzzy 'star' in Perseus. At 04:30 U.T. on the </div> <div> morning of 27.10.07, I estimated its magnitude as 2.65, half a million times brighter than </div> <div> normal! The material ejected from the nucleus of the comet rapidly expanded and </div> <div> although fainter, the comet remained relatively easily visible to the maked-eye for many </div> <div> weeks. The weird thing about this comet is that it was observed to perform a similar</div> <div> outburst back in 1892.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 8.11.07</div> <bR> <div> Both images with Orion 80mm ED Apo refractor @ F7.5 and SXV-H9 CCD, but the latter was binned 2x2. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17ba9fd0.jpg" border=0 width="681" height="509" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17caae10.jpg" border=0 width="682" height="481" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 31.10.07</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17db4a80.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="168" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"> </div> <div>    Jets of material ejected from the comet's</div> <div>    nucleus revealed using a rotational gradient</div> <div>    Larson-Sekanina filter of 12 degrees in </div> <div>    MaxImDL software. The original image was</div> <div>    a stack of 55 x 15s L filtered images with an</div> <div>    Orion 80mm ED Apo refractor @ F7.5 and</div> <div>    SXV-H9 CCD camera.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 30.10.07</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17ea28d0.jpg" border=0 width="418" height="397" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0"><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC33" FACE="Trebuchet MS" >   </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Above: stack of 58 x 15s L exposures through Orion 80mm ED apo refractor @ F7.5 </div> <div> with an SXV-H9 CCD camera.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17ff4330.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="307" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">    <IMG SRC="180b4b20.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="178" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Above: rotational gradient Larson-Sekanina filter applied to original image to reveal jets and faint longer tail structures.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 29.10.07</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="18188530.jpg" border=0 width="392" height="339" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </div> <bR> <div> Above: stack of 26 x 15s L exposures through Orion 80mm ED apo refractor @ F7.5 </div> <div> with an SXV-H9 CCD camera.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="182b4b80.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="184" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  12 degrees          <IMG SRC="183b4aa0.jpg" border=0 width="180" height="170" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  8 degrees</div> <bR> <div> Above: rotational gradient Larson-Sekanina filter applied to original image to reveal jets.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> An extra 'star' in Perseus...!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1849b660.jpg" border=0 width="411" height="614" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFCC33" FACE="Trebuchet MS" >29.10.07</FONT></div> <bR> <div> 135mm lens @ F3.5  Elitechrome 200 slide film</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="18547640.jpg" border=0 width="327" height="356" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">28.10.07</div> <bR> <div> 300mm lens @ F4.5  Elitechrome 200 slide film</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Comet Linear VZ13 glides past M3</U></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17aaef80.jpg" border=0 width="686" height="504" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> 22.7.07  23:28 UT  low in the western sky. Orion 80 ED apo refractor @ F7.5, piggy-backed on 20cm Meade </div> <div> LX200 SCT. Starlight Xpress SXV-H9 CCD camera. Filters and exposures: Baader UV/IR blocker + </div> <div> True Technology L 10 x 30s; R = 7 x 30s; G = 7 x 30s; B = 10 x 30s.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Comet Machholz</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="17320e20.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="482" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> Comet Machholz meets The Pleiades  8.1.05</div> <div> This mazaic took 6 weeks to put together from nearly 200 separate 1 minute exposures. Each piece of</div> <div> the mozaic was the product of 2x2 binned 5 x 1 min Luminance plus 3 x 1 minute  R, G and B exposures.</div> <div> The camera used was an SXV-H9 CCD mounted on a Megrez 80 APO refractor at F3.8!</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16b2cc00.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="448" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> Comet Machholz on 1.1.05</div> <bR> <div> Battled against wind and rain to get this one! The comet was an easy naked-eye object in Taurus.</div> <div> A stack of 64 x 15s 2x2 binned Luminance exposures with my SXV-H9 CCD on the Orion 80 ED Apo </div> <div> refractor @ F4.8. Colour info. R=7x15s, G=6x15s, B=5x15s. Tricky processing to eliminate star </div> <div> trails due to rapid comet motion.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16d89360.gif" border=0 width="393" height="310" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> Animation of the ghostly green Comet Machholz in mist and moonlight 19.12.04</div> <div> C/2004 Q2 Machholz: SXV-H9 CCD on Orion 80 ED Apo refractor @ F4.8</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16a621e0.jpg" border=0 width="354" height="542" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> Zodiacal Light</div> <div> Also just happened to capture a meteor and Mars!</div> <div> This was taken from Prince Albert, South Africa before dawn.</div> <div> The zodiacal light is caused by particles of dust from the tails of comets.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Comet Ikeya-Zhang (2002)</U></B></div> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="1742cb60.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="438" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></B></div> <div> 6.4.02</div> <bR> <div> 20cm Meade LX200 SCT @ F6.3. Scanned from Elitechrome 200 film.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Comet Hale-Bopp (1997)</U></B></div> <bR> <div> First, close-up views of the inner coma and nucleus, showing arcs of dust, each </div> <div> produced as the nucleus rotates rather like a garden sprinkler!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1643ca10.jpg" border=0 width="316" height="161" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> 6th March 1997; 50cm Newtonian @ F4.6; 0.4s; SX mono CCD.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="163fb7f0.jpg" border=0 width="251" height="127" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> 29th March 1997; 50cm Newtonian @ F4.6; 0.6s; SX mono CCD.</div> <bR> <div> And now for a 135mm photo showing both the blue ion gas tail and the yellowish </div> <div> dust tail:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="170906c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="364" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Finally, a close-up conventional photo with the 0.5m Newtonian:</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="169c8aa0.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="170" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Comet Hyakutake (1996)</U></B></div> <div>         </div> <div> <IMG SRC="17262f30.jpg" border=0 width="354" height="243" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> 27th March 1996 SX mono CCD 58mm F2 lens</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="17692c40.jpg" border=0 width="402" height="452" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> 27th March 1996  03:50 U.T.  Drawing made of naked-eye</div> <div> view with 25 degree ion tail stretching from near Polaris to</div> <div> the 'bowl' of The Great Bear! What a sight!</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1753e910.jpg" border=0 width="574" height="401" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> 27th March 1996  04:40 UT Photo taken rather too late into twilight!</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="177629a0.jpg" border=0 width="610" height="410" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 10th April 1996</div> <bR> <div> 58mm @ F2; 400 Fuji Provia; 2 mins.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="179588f0.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="399" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> 17th April 1996</div> <bR> <div> 210mm @ F4; 400 Fuji Provia film; 3 min exposure.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>