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103P/Hartley - Naked Eye Comet In October

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Author Topic: 103P/Hartley - Naked Eye Comet In October  (Read 11312 times)
John9929
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« Reply #165 on: November 03, 2010, 12:44:28 am »

Lovely image Richard and good to know it's still NE.

Here's a fascinating read.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-368&cid=release_2010-368&msource=2010368&tr=y&auid=7293009#
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John9929.
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« Reply #166 on: November 03, 2010, 04:41:19 pm »

Thanks Martin. That must have been an incredible sight seeing the colored lightning display. When you have skies as you discribe, plus lightning on top of that, it's a tough decision on what to put your time to. Hopefully you'll get some more views. Hartley is moving very quick now and hope the weather doesn't interfere with you much.

Thanks John, that was an interesting article regarding Hartley and the visit to JPL to see his comet up close and personal, from other than his livingroom. Next March when we next visit Southern California, we may get a chance to take a behind the scenes tour of JPL. One of my son's high school buddie's Father is a physicist and works at JPL and "might" be able to get us in on other than the regular tour. We'll see if that happens!
Anyway, last night was dark, clear and very warm. Couln't decide on whether to get up early in the morning to check out Hartley or just stay up, so I did both. Hartley rose above the ridgetop about 01:00, a lot earlier than I had thought, so I was in and out of the house until it was visible. Still naked eye but getting a little tougher. I was taking other photos while waiting for Hartley to get into position. I finished up about 02:00 and was up about 06:00 again for one last shot.

50 mm  34 sec f/2.5 ISO 1600 01:26 local time



50 mm  45 sec f/2.5 ISO 1600 06:22 local time



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markt
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« Reply #167 on: November 03, 2010, 07:40:06 pm »

Great additions Richard!
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John9929
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« Reply #168 on: November 03, 2010, 09:41:16 pm »

Great images Richard and certainly worth waiting up for. I did the same, stayed up for a while when it was clear and then got up later but it was cloudy! My first image also shows the beginnings of the Rosette Nebula to the right of the comet. Richard you have it in the second image! The second was taken over "our hedge" which is in the neighbors garden.


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« Reply #169 on: November 03, 2010, 10:09:55 pm »

Two fine photos John. I'm amazed that Hartley shows so good in your somewhat light-polluted skies, you always get good results. I'm lucky to have much darker skies though I do have a lot of marine influence to deal with only living 1000' from the ocean, but at 700' elevation at least. 30 minutes after I took that 2nd photo I was socked in with fog. . Regarding the Rosette Nebula, I noticed that red smudge when I was downsizing the image for email, really didn't think too much about it as I don't know the skies as well as I'd like to. I just went back and checked the original file and it shows quite well in it. I'll have to check for items like that more often. Good luck tonight, we have a front moving in!
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« Reply #170 on: November 03, 2010, 11:23:25 pm »

Really great shots Richard and John, i must get out with the fifty again soon to catch Hartley.
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John9929
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« Reply #171 on: November 04, 2010, 12:35:52 am »

Thanks Paul, you would need to do it soon as it's starting to drop fast!
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« Reply #172 on: November 04, 2010, 03:15:22 pm »

WEather has been so frustrating here rain and cloud non stop.
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rjgjr
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« Reply #173 on: November 04, 2010, 04:34:59 pm »

What luck, I caught NASA's Deep Impact Epox 1 Satellite at closest approach flyby of Comet Hartley this morning (just kidding), I didn't think I could get that past any of you. This was taken at 06:40 this morning, about 20 minutes ahead of the Epox 1 Satellite, not that I could record it at 11 million miles plus. Just a coincedence that I caught a satellite in the FOV. Comet Hartley is passing to the west Procyon and Gomeisa in Canis Minor. A very wet, misty morning here ahead of rain.

50 mm  10 sec f/1.8 ISO 1600

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martinastro
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« Reply #174 on: November 04, 2010, 05:12:28 pm »

Richard and John - you are doing a fantastic job with the latest images, this becoming an exciting season for comets. Check out the latest Deep Impact image of Hartley's nucleus - wow.



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John9929
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« Reply #175 on: November 04, 2010, 05:51:42 pm »

Thanks Martin, you beat me to it, I've just been watching those coming in they are fantastic. Wonder what that strange broad band is? almost looks like two comets stuck together. Amazing detail in those and more to come.
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« Reply #176 on: November 04, 2010, 07:51:48 pm »

Amazing John isn't it, that's got to be the best comet nucleus image we have ever seen, I was always fond of the old Halley nucleus images but this one is something else. No idea what caused that band, it almost lools artifical doesn't it, comets never cease to amaze, just imagine that in the centre of the fuzzy glow of Hartley the next time you observe it through binos - what an experience.  Smiley

Here's an animation of the latest images...

http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002758/
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« Reply #177 on: November 04, 2010, 10:48:26 pm »

Quote
that's got to be the best comet nucleus image we have ever seen
I'm not going to disagree with you but doesn't this remind you of something?

On the basis of this I think we can be pretty darned sure that asteroid Itokawa is the nucleus of an extinct comet.

Okay, this is speculation, but assume we have a mix of icy material and lumps of rock randomly mixed up & rotating. The denser lumps will tend to migrate away from the spin axis & after some time only icy /dusty material will be left giving the appearance shown by asteroid Itokawa and in a more marked form by the nucleus of Comet Hartley. Further erosion of the central region may eventually lead to centripetal accelleration exceeding the material strength & gravitational cohesion of the object and it will fracture into two pieces as is sometimes seen with comets.
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« Reply #178 on: November 04, 2010, 11:28:17 pm »

Very similar indeed Brian and a fine theory too, just goes to show grey the divison between comets, asteroids, and extinct comets really is - fascinating stuff  Smiley
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rjgjr
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« Reply #179 on: November 05, 2010, 05:09:12 pm »

The fog was rolling in and out and again it was a very wet, moist and misty sky. I was lucky enough to get this shot of Comet Hartley between fogs just as it rose above the tree-topped ridge to my east. As long as the weathermen continue to hold off on the rain, that's fine with me.


50 mm  10 sec f/1.8 1600 ISO  01:02 Local Time





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