More Comet Holmes...

It had been a long day, and I've been kinda bushed, but Comet Holmes
isn't going to stick around forever, so I ran out with 11x80 binocs at
around 10:35 CST to take a look. As usual, I was hooked. The
"Easternish" side appeared to be blowing out more, and the comet was
still VERY bright... Within 15 minutes, I was bolting my old C8 down
onto it's wedge. A nice meteor shot northward through Draco as I
finished setting up...
Comet Holmes had indeed grown since my last "scope" look. The
fanward side was now pretty well blown out, giving it a bit more of a
"comety" appearance, and the coma nearly filled the FOV of my 18mm
Kellner at 111x. Five days ago, on the 2nd, it neatly filled the FOV of
my 12mm Kellner at 160x.
It seems as time goes by, the less detail I see in the nuclear
region. Whether it's me, the seeing, or the comet itself, about all I
see now is a very blurry "fan" inside the still bright coma. The "blown
out" side seems to be the most interesting feature for me lately.
Still, a wonderful comet. Makes me talk too much...
I then swung down for a look at the Orion Nebula. What can I say?
That patch of nebulosity is reason enough to own a telescope all by
itself. Odd thing is, it's been quite a while since I'd looked at it
with my scope... It seems I've gotten into the habit of chasing down
dimmer fuzzies I've never seen before, straining at the limits of my
averted vision, ignoring some of the most spectacular sights in the
sky... I traced the dimmer outlying whisps in both directions out from
the brighter, curdled looking central region with it's dark bay reaching
in toward the trapezium, the three brightish stars along it's side.
Looking through the eyepiece, I was reminded of many of the drawings of
classic observers more so than the commonly seen photographs.
Now though, I've gotta put the scope away and hit the sack.
Tomorrow's another workin' day...
Marty