Comet P17/Holmes is normally quite a faint object but recently it has undergone a dramatic outburst that has turned what should be a mag 17 comet into a Naked Eye spectacle that for the moment adds to the shape of Perseus the Hero. This increase is at least the equivalent of 14 magnitudes and in binoculars gives the impression of a small fuzzy patch of light. Telescopes reveal no significant tail but a clear halo round a brighter coma. The finder chart here shows the comets position until Feb 1st 2008.  Look out for it before it fades! Images from Oct 28th to Nov 17th are shown below.

New finder chart of Perseus showing path of the comet from Dec 31st 2007 to Feb 1st 2008
Image taken on the evening of October 28th 2007 at 20:07 UT showing Perseus with it's 'visitor'. The Comet is shown by the arrow!
Comet P17 Holmes taken on 28th Oct 2007 at approx 21:00 UT with the Equinox 80ED. A stack of 12, 30 second images at ISO 100
28-10-07: A closer view taken with the 10" F5 Newtonian Reflector on the same evening at around 21:49 UT. Stack of 14, 30 second ISO 100 exposures	28-10-07: Image taken at ISO 800 and a stack of 10, 30 second exposures to show the faint outer halo that was present in all telescopes used.
Images taken using the 10" F5 Newtonian on 29-10-07
View taken with the 10" F5 Newtonian Reflector at around 20:35 UT. Stack of 12, 30 second ISO 100 exposures.	Comparison view showing gradual increase in size of the Comets expanding shell and motion against the background stars: Left comet - 28-10-07, right comet 29-10-07.
Comet and Perseus taken with Canon 300D & 58mm lens, ISO 800, 10 seconds exposure. Some high cloud was moving in which ended all observations :-(
Images taken during the early hours of Oct 31st with the 10" F5 Newtonian Reflector.
View taken at around 01:32 UT. Stack of 21, 30 second ISO 100 exposures	Longer exposure and stack of 10, 2 min at ISO 400 images showing outer green halo. mid point of exposures at 01:54UT.
Comparison view showing gradual increase in size of the Comets expanding shell and motion against the background stars: Left comet - 28-10-07, mid comet 29-10-07, right comet 31-10-07.
Images taken during the late evening hours of Oct 31st with the 10" F5 Newtonian Reflector.
View taken at around 23:18 UT. Stack of 20, 30 second ISO 100 exposures	New comparison view showing gradual increase in size of the Comets expanding shell and motion against the background stars: L-R 28-10-07, 29-10-07, 31-10-07am and 31-10-07-pm.
The saga continues: Images taken during the evening hours of Nov 2nd with the 10" F5 Newtonian Reflector.
This image taken at around 20:33 UT. Stack of 21, 30 second ISO 400 exposures	And then there were five...
Highly processed view of inner coma based on the above left Nov 2nd image showing the inner jets.
Gif animation showing all 5 images registered on the nucleus to show the gradual increase in size of the comet from Oct 28th to Nov 2nd.
New images taken during the evening hours of Nov 4th with the 10" F5 Newtonian Reflector - Note quite hazy conditions and smoke from bonfires as well!
This image taken at around 20:41 UT. Stack of 32, 30 second ISO 800 exposures, 1 exposure of 1 minute at ISO 200 and 1 exposure of 2 minutes at ISO 400,	Highly processed view of inner coma based on the left Nov 4th image showing the inner jets.
And then there were six..!
Unfortunately I was away for the next 10 days or so for the Northern Lights Flights but did manage to get the following images on Nov 17th after I returned.	Image taken with the Equinox 80 and a stack of 10, 1 minute images at ISO 400. This gives a wider field of view and also shows the bright star Mirphak.
Image taken with the 10" Newtonian and a stack of 11, 2 minute images at ISO 400. Compare this image with the very first 10" image to show the dramatic difference in size since I first imaged the comet. Note the bright star Mirphak at lower right. .	This view has taken the same set of raw images and processed them via Registax to bring out detail near the nucleus.

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