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Here is the second, more successful observation of the comet on the same day.

I had observed 17/P Holmes for the first time some hours back at around 10:00 pm in cloudy skies, in between the clear windows. I returned from another observing of 17/P with naked-eyes and 10x50 Olympus binoculars before going to sleep at 2 am. I casually stepped out to inspect the sky condition which had got clouded, and only to my surprise there was a transparent patch, with the major stars of constellations visible brightly! Bright Mars meant that in spite of fast moving fog-clouds, sky was good, and the rain cloud layer had moved out.

When I saw Perseus I was transfixed there in awe seeing how bright 17/P was with naked-eyes!! It was just another "star" of Perseus...could not believe it was not a star! It was RIGHT THERE!! Something similar to the image below (but only inverted and flipped in orientation)!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2381/1732909835_9d7c4772a4_o.jpg

I did naked-eye magnitude estimation and it was getting difficult to judge it's precise magnitude. It seemed closest to nearby Delta (3.01) and Zeta (2.85) Perseus. I had to shift eyes to Theta Auriga (2.62) which was some distance away which too appeared similar, hence magnitude estimation was difficult. But it's best to rate as 2.9 magnitude in comparison with Delta Perseus.

This object could be seen even through little thick haze with binoculars!! It appeared a pale white color (with hints towards the yellow wavelength) and "clearly" disk-like and fuzzy with binoculars. But during evening, it was more of orangish as it was rising. I've been just waiting to see it's details with a telescope under good conditions! The sky covered up with moving clouds and I went in. I again tried my luck at 3 am, finally before going to sleep.

This time it was quite clear and 17/P was distinctly "brighter" than Delta Perseus. Seems like I had erred on the previous occasion and judged wrongly. With naked-eyes it was brighter than Delta and closest to the stars Zeta (2.85) and Theta Auriga (2.62). I stared for long and tried comparing with naked-eyes and yet it was hard to judge the exact magnitude. I did not use the binoculars as it wasn't helping me in getting an exact magnitude.

You can discard the previous magnitude estimation and take this one, around 2.6 into consideration, whatever but brighter than mag 3.

This comet is awesome...