2008-02-27

I took a look at Comet Holmes last night. It is a comet that has fallen off my radar, and I'm not the only one. Most astronomers have moved onto other things. For a while, this comet flared up unexpectedly and was amazingly bright. Tonight I thought I might see a tiny dot, and really expected to have to take several images so that I could tell which dot was moving. However, I only needed one image - Comet Holmes still has a distinct tail. We are looking straight into it, rather than seeing the classic profile, so the comet appears as a round haze.



It is not the bright object it was a couple of months ago, but it is still an interesting object.

2008-02-20

Lunar Eclipse

Tonight's lunar eclipse may have been the prettiest I've ever seen - and I've seen quite a few. The moon turned a distinct red at totality, an element that is often expected but frequently absent. The star at the left of the moon is Saturn.

Here in Georgia, the skies where partly cloudy, adding an interesting element to the eclipse as the moon hid and reappeared among the clouds. At totality it was completely clear.