Hubble trains its eye on an astronomical mystery~periodic comet Holmes (17P) brightened .. million X

Arstechnica ^ | November 18, 2007 - 01:53PM CT | Matt Ford

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

At the end of October, Nobel Intent reported on a surprising astronomical event; periodic comet Holmes (17P) brightened over one million fold over the course of a single day. In mid-October, Comet Holmes was a "nonentity" in between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. Then, on the evening of October 24th, backyard astronomers the world over (well, in the Northern Hemisphere) saw a new "star" in the constellation Perseus. At the time, no one was sure why this extreme brightening happened. Now, scientists have trained Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on Holmes to attempt to shed—or more accurately receive—light on this new turn of events.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[RightWhale]

We don’t get much from Hubble anymore. This one is interesting that the coma is not spherical at all but seems to be shooting out mainly in two directions.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Comet Temple 1 brightened significantly on 10/2/2006.

I wonder if the Holmes brightening could have a similar cause?

[Spktyr]

Crap. Quick, someone check for Posleen engines...

[Verginius Rufus]

Well, there's always the old standby...Bush's fault.

I've seen the comet several times with binoculars over the past several weeks--I think it's a naked-eye object if you're somewhere where the sky is dark enough. Last night it was very close to Alpha Persei (the brightest star in Perseus)...it has been getting a little bigger in diameter (it's roughly circular, at least I haven't seen any sign of a tail).

[mewzilla]

Is this the one that looks like a big fuzzball?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Photographer Bashar Markabawi Photographer

E-mail markabawi@yahoo.com

Location Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Best of breed from http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/gallery/skyevents/11088956.html (Amateur submissions).

Date November 14, 2007. At 9:30 PM MST. [11/15/2007 4:30 GMT]

Equipment 80 mm William Optics with 0.8X focal reducer. Camera Nikon D 50. Exposure time 10 minutes at 800ASA and JPEG format. No processing only resized. Mount EQ3 orion.

Description The comet is closer to Mirfak which is the brightes star in the picture, left is nothward.

[Western Phil]

My understanding is that its tail, such as it is, is aimed away from us. Thus we are seeing an arrow pointing at us.

[buffyt]

We are on the Texas Gulf coast south of Houston. We tried to see it two nights ago. Last night was too cloudy. I think I may buy a good telescope just for events like this. Last time at Griffith Observatory Los Angeles we saw Saturn through telescope. It was AWESOME!

[skinkinthegrass]

Thus we are seeing an arrow pointing at us

....oh cr@p! Its going to hit us....forget the house loan/charge cards, deary. :)

[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, Mirfak is Alpha Persei. It has been getting noticeably closer to Mirfak since the first few times I saw it and seemed to be almost touching the star last night.

I don't know which disaster can be blamed on the comet...maybe the flooding in Bangladesh.

[maine-iac7]

Well, there's always the old standby...Bush's fault.

and

Don't let it cross the BORDERBORDERBORDERborder_border

[maine-iac7]

My understanding is that its tail, such as it is, is aimed away from us. Thus we are seeing an arrow pointing at us.

Quick!

Put up that BORDER fence

[RightWhale]

Last saw it three nights ago. Probably it will be faded too much to see it again by the next time the sky clears enough. It was right next to Mirfak then and had already dimmed and moved quite a bit from a couple weeks ago which was the last time before three nights ago the sky was clear enough to see anything.

[UCANSEE2]

Thus we are seeing an arrow pointing at us.

---

Now, you just had to go and tell, didn’t you???

[Alas Babylon!]

I looked at it with 30X binoculars last week and it appeared very spherical and hazy. You could tell it wasn’t a star. I did not notice any tail or double tail or any other anomaly. It’s raining here in Alabama tonight, but have you seen it with these two main “shoots” or structures since last week?

[eddie willers]

I think I may buy a good telescope just for events like this.

You would be better served with a good pair of 7x50 binoculars.

[hoosierham]

I have a pair of 20x50 that provide breathtaking views compared to naked eye but are difficult to hold still.

[The Electrician]

At the time, no one was sure why this extreme brightening happened.

Uh oh... Anybody else remember the story "Inconstant Moon" by Larry Niven?

Sudden, extreme brightening of a celestial object could be reason for panic (or, for end-of-the-world partying, perhaps)...