[meteorite-list] Comets F1 (LONEOS) and 17P (Holmes)

[mexicodoug]

Hello Listees, and desert comet chasers,

The exciting performance of 17P, from within our cloudless, profusely 
particulate and sodium vapor laden metropolis, is one of those events that 
we couldn't allow to become diluted among our list of memorable astronomical 
spectacles left un-notched in our lives.

Off we went, Saturday, to the spiney desert, to our favorite distant place 
to join into harmony with the Cholla, Opuntia and Ocotillo.  Armed with 
tweezers, magnets and optics...  After a very satisfying romp and friendly 
encounters with several species of desert grasshoppers camouflaged to look 
much like meteorite kernels of popping corn, Sunset loomed.  We scampered 
and hopped to prepare for the matinee of the evening.  Being at the bottom 
of a 70 million year old arid wash basin with razor sharp skies and one 
notch cut between the mountain that happened to be center-aligned at 264 
degrees (WSW) was half of the challenge.  Several fingers north of the 
setting Great Pumpkin, which seemed to spring love-handles faster than a 
fattening middle-aged man, we observed landscape pastels, crowned by a 
chalky orange belt of sky glow, impacting an uninterrupted celeste orb 
above.

A slight breeze broke the silence as it caressed tree-leaf comas of the 
groves of mesquites on the banks of the nearby draws.  We took one last 
glass of water from the urn of Er in the truck, and cleared our minds as our 
restless fingers counted their expectations with darkness falling.  The 
truck dome light successfully extinguished, in the almost imperceptible 
reddened haze ARCTURUS jumped out and ran amock in the background it had 
been matching so well, but only in light binoculars.  Also in accentuated 
red, Antares faintly beat from its observation platform in the heart of the 
Scorpion nestled over the distant rock formations.

But, Comet F1 was nowhere to be seen ... By 8:05PM we were already 15 
minutes past the optimal viewing time according to our estimates and the 
comet was less than 7 degrees above the surface reference ellipse's horizon 
and under six degrees above our geographical horizon.  Panic set in as some 
of the reference stars were identified one by one and still no comet in 
sight by 8:20PM.  It appeared to be a lost cause; I was sure the 25X100mm 
binoculars had the comet near the center of their field by 8:27PM, as I sat 
the binocular circle on the soft still tepidly glowing horizon in failing 
desperation.

Gloria said not to worry and started to turn around to face near Perseus, at 
once she was transcended in her awe of the stunning string of earthly 
Baily's Beads adorning a crest in the distance.  These golden jewels 
appeared behind a far mountain eclipsing the rise of a fiery yellow and 
crisp Full Moon.  It was 8:28 PM and some reflex grabbed a horse from my 
throat to shout,  Amor! Allí está!  BABY, THERE'S THE COMET!  This, I 
shouted even before it really registered, but sure enough Comet 2007 F1 
(LONEOS) was sitting peacefully one degree above my horizon in the plain 
view of the grand, tripod stabilized binoculars, with a cute but blurred 
tail as well.  It was a sight to behold for both of us.  By now, half of the 
Moon was visible and the sky was rapidly becoming flushed, but still, the 
three dimensional view between the mountains, and in our direction a 
persistent Sunlit sky, with Jupiter basking above against navy blue, and 
further up still, a few wisps of the Milky Way gave a depth of field to our 
private premiere in the sky.  Three minutes later, and just as the Moon 
cleared its hanger in a liftoff colored by gold, F1 quietly settled behind 
an inspiring three dimensional  set of rocks only a degree above the 
calculated horizon.  Maybe it wasn't so pretty as it could have been because 
in those last moments we saw the comet.  But it evoked such splendor as each 
peered through one ocular (left-eye me), and we watched the Comet set while 
holding hands.

It took some time to shake off the sweetness and spontaneity of our good 
fortune, and by the time we turned around for a serious view of Comet 17P 
(Holmes), things were not really the same and the Moon shone in a tone so 
beautiful that we decided to burn out our retinas studying the details 
grazing the Terminator.  Time well spent in familiar territory gazing at 
incredible igneous activity and cratering to crave, in each and every of its 
forms!

After romping around more all day Sunday over innumerable quantities of 
rocks, I set up the 25X100's at our makeshift base and Gloria sat as lookout 
on the corner of the extended gate of the pickup among our combined haul of 
desert diamonds of quartz she now possessed.  Meanwhile, I set to work 
nursing a stew practically in the dark to maintain night vision.

Time passed and the sky grew immensely beautiful.  I was still busy testing 
the temperature of the stew lightly with a tablespoon near my chapped lips 
as she enjoyed the art of comet chasing.  This potentially hazardous liquid 
was diffucult to see in the stiff winds, with no light other than an almost 
invisible blue flame.  A soothing natural background shrilly broke as she 
excitedly shrieked, BABY, THERE'S THE COMET!  Arrrgh!  Well, Gloria's 
liberation had me as as happy as Air Boss Johnson when Maverik buzzed the 
tower!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW23SS0zEnY

This, of course, was Comet Holmes and the first comet she found all by 
herself.  Her smile was precious.  I wish I caught us on video!  I kept 
making dinner in the windy cold evening, letting the sky darken even more in 
a cruel anticipation of a most perfect celestial foreplay.  A bit later as 
darkness predominated, the soul of the desert seemed to depart as the heat 
escaped uninhibited from the desert into the thinly insulated bliss 
overhead.  Gloria re-accommodated herself inside the camper using a 
commercial binocular through a peephole to savour the spectacular comet's 
perplexing performance.  Occasionally I looked over my shoulder at the 
plainly cometary object hanging out of Perseus's pocket as he marched 
forward with Medusa's own coma of serpents in hand, and his Mother-In-Law 
aimlessly circling over his shoulders as this interloping woman headed 
straight for his heart.  One-hour and ten minutes after Sunset, after a nice 
warm stew in a pot over a charred tongue, shared one spoon at a time through 
the peephole in the back of my truck, I mulled over whether the time was 
right to see the whites of Holmes' eye.  The Moon was still a half hour 
away.  Above glistened the Milky Way, a pathway to the comet shrouded 
somewhat symmetrically just like the numerous sparkling fragments of quartz 
seen at certain angles to our sides, sprinkled throughout the desert while 
walking under a low Sun minutes earlier.

Ready, aim, focus!  This comet is NOT photogenic !!!  One look with 
binocular vision into the 25X100's and I instantly felt the recoil of a 
shotgun from this retinal ecstasy.  I cannot adequately choose my 
descriptors to say how the comet was embossed above a pitch dark sky and in 
lower reliefs filled with dwarfed stars of every spectrum under crystal 
clarity - and at least occupying 25% of the diameter of my star field.  It 
seemed never exactly in focus, more like a drain in motion, only in three 
dimensions like I have never seen in a comet before.  I can only say that 
this is something not appreciated to the extent possible until you suffer a 
little through views of other comets and then burn the rods and delightful 
cones of your senses by viewing this.  Just another space rock, one 
thirty-fifth the mass of Chixulub floating out there in its own snowstorm 
and ready someday to be fetched and brought home...

The first part of the long drive back was somewhat challenging, for the 
comet was plainly visible with naked eyes straight off the driver side, - 
and no driving glasses were even needed to see it.  On more than one 
occasion, I deviated dangerously away from from under the rising golden 
Gibbous Moon's shining road, who, unabashedly offered lessons in 
selenography for all who cared to gawk.  But she kindly illuminated the way 
back to favorite filthy sodium vapor dome as a magnetic homing beacon, which 
uniquely had the qualities to keep our hearts longing until our safe tucking 
in bed.

Big Skies, Best wishes and Great health,
Doug