What's This? #13!!! Fastest Reveal EVER, by Paul!!

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WCGucfa
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Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2006 1:39 pm

What's This? #13!!! Fastest Reveal EVER, by Paul!!

Unread post by WCGucfa »

Brrrrrr! This picture, taken on a super cold January night, gives me the chills!
Besides the obvious stars in this image, there are two other celestial objects, entirely
different from each other.
What are they? :shock:

Bill G.

Sony DSC F-707, 16s, f/2.0, ISO 400
Image
Last edited by WCGucfa on Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Paul D
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Re: What's This? #13!!! (a lucky number in Indian lore)

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Comet Holmes and the double cluster. Just taking a stab in the dark here. Didnt even study the star patterns. LOL..
Paul...

16" f/5 Night Sky Truss (Midnight Mistress)
10" f/5 Home built Dob with Parks mirror.
Pre-Meade PST
Celestron Skymaster Binos 25-125x80
Meade Travelview Binos 10x50

See that 16" in the sleek black dress? She is all mine. :)
Bruce D
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Re: What's This? #13!!! (a lucky number in Indian lore)

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M44 and Mars?
Bruce D
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WCGucfa
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Re: What's This? #13!!! With the quickest Reveal ever!!

Unread post by WCGucfa »

Paul,

YOU are good, Man!!
I'm giving you this because you are super close. Comet Holmes is 4-5 magnitude in the center.
Beta Persei is the brightest star to the left, Alpha Persei to the upper right.
Caught in the tree, just below Holmes, is 5.2 magnitude M34!

I'm impressed!
Holmes was visible only in my 8x40 WA binocs, GIANT and ghostly!
I'm thinking up a special prize for you Pauly!

Bill G.
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Rotorhead
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Re: What's This? #13!!! (a lucky number in Indian lore)

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Wow, solved before I even saw it!!!!!!!!! You da man Paul, that's for sure!

Nice image, once again, Bill. A trip down memory lane.
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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WCGucfa
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Re: What's This? #13!!! Fastest Reveal EVER, by Paul!!

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Bob, I know I've said this before, but when I first saw Holmes, I was actually frightened.
It was so bright and odd looking!! The fact that you couldn't tell which direction it was
headed added to the uncomfortable sense of the thing.
I couldn't stop imaging it, and I think this was about 90% to keep an eye on whether or not
the situation would come to the point of putting on my bike helmet and crawling under the bed to
wait for impact!
Finally the time came when it was obvious where it was going so I started calming down.
The other facinating thing about Holmes was that the bigger it got (actually almost filling my
1.5 degree eyepiece field) the dimmer it got!

Like the fading fuzzy head of a cosmic dandelion, it floated, soon to become invisible in the end.
Funny, I wanted the comet to get away from us in November when it first appeared,
and ended up begging it to stay by January.

B.

Orion 120mm SVP refractor, Sony DSC F-707 afocal through 40mm EP, 30s, ISO 400.
Image

Photoshop color gradient to bring out detail.
Image
Last edited by WCGucfa on Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Rotorhead
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Re: What's This? #13!!! Fastest Reveal EVER, by Paul!!

Unread post by Rotorhead »

Bill, it certainly was the most unusual comet that I, or perhaps any of us, had seen. Mark came to my house on the first day of the outbreak, and we had to put my dob about two feet from the street in order to see Perseus at a really low angle over the trees. We must have studied that beast for two hours, and each peek made it stranger and stranger to try to understand it.

Eventually, when it actually exceeded the diameter of the sun, that sealed it for me: I will probably NEVER see an odder comet.
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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Paul D
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Re: What's This? #13!!! Fastest Reveal EVER, by Paul!!

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It was a wonderful comet, I remember many a nights on a deck chair on my deck looking to Holmes with a pair of binos till I couldnt feel my fingers anymore. I really dont think we will ever see a show like that again. Imagine that, in one lifetime a venus transit and one of the strangest comets in history. What a great hobby, you just never know whats around the next corner.
Paul...

16" f/5 Night Sky Truss (Midnight Mistress)
10" f/5 Home built Dob with Parks mirror.
Pre-Meade PST
Celestron Skymaster Binos 25-125x80
Meade Travelview Binos 10x50

See that 16" in the sleek black dress? She is all mine. :)
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