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Posted on 11/14/2007 7:06:58 PM PST by annie laurie
All right, that title is a little misleading. In fact, when I first read the original press release, my skepticism alarms went off. But it's true, the amazing Comet Holmes now has a halo that's larger than the Sun. Not bad for a comet that, until three weeks ago, was just a tiny dim dirty snowball orbiting near Jupiter.
Comet Holmes made its spectacular outburst on October 24, 2007. Formally dim enough to only be visible in the most powerful telescopes, it quickly brightened up to be seen with the unaided eye - even in light-polluted cities (like my very own Vancouver).
Astronomers from the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy recently measured the halo surrounding Comet Holmes to be 1.4 million kilometres (0.9 million miles). And as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, that makes it larger than the Sun. Of course, it's just a thin halo of gas and dust particles, but still, that's pretty impressive.
Just to get a sense of the change, Holmes has brightened by a factor of 500,000x. All this gas and dust is pouring out of a tiny nucleus only 3.6 km (2.2 miles) in diameter.
In the image captured by the Institute for Astronomy, you can make out the brighter nucleus, near the centre of the halo. And then there's a hazy tail pointing towards the lower right of the image.
Over the next few months, astronomers predict the cometary halo will expand even larger; although, it will be fading away as the dust disperses over a larger volume.
Holmes performed a similar outburst back in 1892, and it brightened again just a couple of months later. Astronomers are hoping it'll make another double outburst, just like it did before.
The little comet that could ;-)
Where is it in the sky?
Scientology alert! The comet is coming and it’s been named after Katie!
This article is dated yesterday, so hopefully it's reasonably accurate:
http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20071113/NEWS08/711130310
"It [Comet Holmes] can be seen in the constellation Perseus, and through binoculars appears as a large fuzzy ball of light with a bright center. A small tail is developing but not yet visible without a telescope.
After sunset on a clear night, sky watchers should face north, find the "W" shape of the constellation Cassiopeia, then look down and to the right to spot the comet."
For those not familiar with the night sky, here's an interactive sky chart, that allows you to generate a map of the sky on any date, at any time, for any location on earth:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/skychart/
Enjoy :)
Heh ;-)
Thanks! I am rather familiar with Cassiopea and Perseus, so I’ll look for the comet.
I couldn’t resist :)
Not gonna touch that ....
stop it Johnny!
bmflr
Thanks annie for the ping.
28 October 2004
COMET STRIKE SURPRISINGLY MORE LIKELY
http://www.astrobiology.cf.ac.uk/ccabnews.html
Research conducted by a Cardiff University astronomy scientist suggests that a comet colliding with Earth is actually more likely than was previously believed.
Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Honorary Professor Bill Napier and research student Janaki Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University’s Centre for Astrobiology believe that some comets are not visible using current astronomical scanning equipment. They argue that if this is the case, international programmes designed to detect near-Earth asteroids, and ways to reduce the worst effects of them colliding with Earth may need to be urgently reviewed.
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It’s a coma, not a halo. Sheesh. ;^)>
related:
A distant comet explodes, another Red Sox omen?
Boston Globe | 25 October 2007 | Andrew Ryan
Posted on 10/25/2007 1:54:26 PM EDT by Fractal Trader
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1916330/posts
Comet Brightens Mysteriously By A Factor Of A Million
New Scientist | 10-25-2007 | Maggie McKee
Posted on 10/25/2007 5:39:29 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1916450/posts
King George County astronomer Stephen Hamilton
took this view of Comet 17P/Holmes on Wednesday.
Courtesy of Stephen Hamilton / November 2, 2007
http://www.dailypress.com/media/photo/2007-11/33642267.jpg
Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA | 10/29/07 | Igor Chekalin
Posted on 10/29/2007 7:05:46 AM EDT by sig226
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1917803/posts
Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA | 10/30/07 | Eric Allen Observatoire
Posted on 10/30/2007 5:55:24 PM EDT by sig226
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1918607/posts
There is a faint tail, it sez in another browser tab, but it isn’t visible with binoculars (no, honest, it really sez that). I’m going to try taking a peek at it this weekend, with binoculars, provided the seasonal cloud cover gives me a break.
Wild!
Brilliant Holmes???
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