# 319| Holmes For The Holidays
Comet Holmes, easily found in the constellation Perseus, continues its celestial show more than eight weeks after suddenly brightening by a factor of 500,000.
Though the comet is not as bright as it was a month ago, observers under dark skies can still view it with the naked eye. Binoculars or a telescope will easily reveal the comet under a night sky with moderate light pollution.
Though the comet may become slightly more diffuse over the next few weeks, it does not appear that the comet will suddenly vanish from visibility. Sky watchers should take advantage of each clear night to observe the comet and submit their images to SkyNews.
Marcus Stevens, a member of the London chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, captured Comet Holmes on December 8, 2007 from near London, Ontario.
Using a William Optics 80mm FD refractor equipped with a William Optics 0.8x field flattener, a Canon 300D digital camera and an HEQ-5 GOTO German equatorial mount, Marcus took three 2-minute guided exposures and one 3-minute unguided image.
Processing was done with Deep Sky Stacker and Adobe Photoshop.
More information on Comet Holmes can be found HERE.
# 318| The Rosette Nebula
Located in the constellation Monoceros, the Rosette nebula is a giant gaseous stellar nursery, basking in the light of many young stars at its core.
Approximately five times the angular size of the Moon, the nebula can be seen in medium-sized telescopes and a dark observing location helps observations.
From Port Hope, Ontario, Adam Evans captured the Rosette nebula using an 80mm Sky-Watcher Equinox refractor mounted atop an HEQ-5 German equatorial mount.
Photo specifications:
Modified Canon 350 digital camera, ISO 800, IDAS LPS P2 filter.
Exposure: 60 minutes, 30 x 120 second for light frames, 12 dark frames, 10 flat frames.
Processing: Images stacked using DeepSkyStacker, final processing completed using Adobe Photoshop.
# 317| Comet Holmes and An Irridium Flare
More than six weeks after it unexpectedly brightened to naked-eye visibility, Comet Holmes continues to be easily seen.
Though its dust tail has become more diffuse and less easily seen, the comet is still an easy target from a moderately dark observing location.
From within a subdivision in Peterborough, Ontario, Phillip Chee captured both the comet and an Iridium flare on November 29th by simply mounting his Nikon D200, equipped with a 17-55mm lens, on a tripod and taking a 60-second exposure at f/4 using ISO 200.
More information on Comet Holmes can be found HERE.
# 316| The Orion Nebula
With winter quickly approaching, one of the most sought-after targets in the night sky is once rising at a convenient time for observing — the Orion Nebula.
Comprised of a wealth of gasses at a distance of approximately 1400 light-years from Earth, the nebula appears as a fuzzy star to the naked eye.
A small telescope shows a distinct cloud while a 6-inch or larger telescope begins to reveal a myriad of subtle details within the nebula.
Peter Roth, imaging from Honey Harbour, Ontario, created this image of the Orion Nebula, also commonly known as M42, by combining five 45-second images (and one dark frame) taken through a Takahashi E-180 f/2.8 astrograph with a Canon 350D digital camera.
# 315| The Horsehead Nebula
The aptly named Horsehead Nebula is easily recognized in images but is difficult to visually observe unless a special filter and a large telescope is used.
However, even a short exposure through a telescope will reveal the nebula in an image.
Long-exposure images reveal a wealth of detail within the giant gas cloud.
Brain Lula, a Canadian living in the United States, has discovered that although technology has made it easier to obtain data, the human aspect still has to be considered — significant time is needed to process the images, a luxury that is few and far between for many of us.
From his home in Massachusetts, Brian created this stunning image of the Horsehead Nebula using an SBIG 6303E CCD and his 12-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph equipped with Astrodon 6Nm bandpass eline filters.
# 314| Comet Holmes
Though the comet is becoming slightly more diffuse, it can still easily be found using binoculars, or if observing from a moderately dark sky location, with the naked eye.
Astronomers are unsure as to how long the comet will be visible. Observers are advised to take advantage of this unusual comet and attempt to view it each night.
From near Charleston Lake in Ontario, Len Benschop took three images on November 10 and combined them to create this photo.
Image specifications: Canon 400D digital camera, 75-300mm USM lens (at 300mm), three 30-second exposures at ISO 1600. Guiding accomplished using a tracking platform.
For more information, including close-up images of the comet and a photo showing the location of Comet Holmes within the constellation Perseus, click HERE.
# 313| Comet Holmes
Comet Holmes continues to impress observers around the world. Since it first became a naked-eye object less than two weeks ago, the comet has changed it looks from a tiny comet-within-a-bubble appearance to a relatively large fuzzy snowball.
This comparison image, taken by Les Marczi from near Niagara Falls, Ontario, is one of dozens of images received by SkyNews.
Les' image shows how the comet changed over the course of only two nights (images taken on October 25 and 27).
With the comet visible in the eastern sky shortly after dark, it is situated perfectly for viewing at a convenient time.
For more information, including close-up images of the comet and a photo showing the location of Comet Holmes within the constellation Perseus, click HERE.
# 312| Comet Holmes
Last week periodic Comet Holmes increased in brightness by a factor of 500,000 in a matter of hours. Easily seen as a new "star" in the constellation Perseus, the comet appears stellar-like to the naked eye. A telescope or binoculars show a distinct puffball.
Pierre Martin of Ottawa, Ontario took this image of the constellation Perseus, showing the starlike comet, on October 25 (Canon 30D, ISO 400, 20mm lens at f/2.8, 13 second exposure).
For more information, including close-up images of the comet and a photo showing the location of Comet Holmes within the constellation Perseus, click HERE.
# 311| M13
As the winter constellations begin to appear in the eastern sky, the summer constellations begin to drift into the western sky at sunset.
Those who enjoy observing the summer Milky Way and deep sky treasures such as M13 do not have too many evenings left to observe them.
Hoping to image M13 before it became to low in the northwestern sky to image, Stuart Heggie of Flesherton, Ontario, captured the globular cluster during September and October using an Astro-Physics 155mm refractor equipped with an SBIG ST10XME CCD camera riding atop an Astro-Physics AP900 mount.
# 310| Venus, Saturn and the Moon
Over the course of an entire night, four planets can now easily be located with the naked eye.
Jupiter, shining like a brilliant creme-coloured "star", can be found shortly after sunset low in the south-west.
Just before sunrise, Mars, Venus and Saturn are all found with ease.
Shining a dull red colour, Mars is near the zenith, slightly towards the southern horizon at dawn. Venus, the brightest star-like object high in the southeast is accompanied by Saturn to its lower left.
From the Fingal Conservation Area near London, Ontario, Peter Raine captured this image of Venus, Saturn the crescent Moon at 6:39 a.m. on October 7, 2007.
Peter took a 6-second exposure using a tripod-mounted Canon A640 digital camera (f/2.8, ISO 80)