TJM obs of 2007 Oct 26 UTC

From: Ted Molczan (ssl2molcz@rogers.com)
Date: Fri Oct 26 2007 - 08:56:50 EDT

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    25725 99 023B   2701 G 20071026104809500 17 25 0611357-154730 56 R        003800
    25725 99 023B   2701 G 20071026104833540 17 25 0623630-150003 87 R        003800
    25725 99 023B   2701 G 20071026104907790 17 25 0641244-134910 57 R        003800
    
    IOD format: http://www.satobs.org/position/IODformat.html
    
    99- 23 B 07-10-26 10:52:06.3 TJM  68.3 0.5  18  3.8   +6.0->inv
    
    PPAS format: http://www.satobs.org/tumble/flashpm.html#PPASformat
    
    Site 2701: 43.68764 N, 79.39243 W, 230 m
    
    Comet 17P/Holmes was easily seen with the unaided eye, located near 03:52,
    +50.2, making a right-triangle with alpha and delta Persei. 
    
    As seen with the unaided eye, at first glance it appeared stellar, but careful
    observation revealed a hint of fuzziness, which I would not have noticed had I
    not known this to be a comet. The comet was brighter than the mag 3.0 delta
    Persei, and fainter than the mag 1.9 alpha Persei; I estimate roughly mag 2.5.
    
    In 25x100 binoculars, the comet's core was bright and elongated, located a
    little off centre within a coma of about 0.1 deg diameter (estimated relative a
    pair of similarly spaced stars in the FOV). The outer edge of the coma appeared
    to be sharply defined; there was no sign of a tail.
    
    At its present distance from Earth, about 1.63 A.U., its apparent angular
    diameter of about 0.1 deg implies a linear diameter of about 400,000 km.
    
    Ted Molczan
    
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