David Morrison is a NASA expert on asteroids and other objects that may one day — if we just sit on our butts and let it happen — send us the way of the dinosaurs. He has an informal newsletter he sends out about Near Earth Objects and related topics, and he relates some info on Comet 17/P Holmes (I’ll be observing it again tonight, of course!):
NEO News (10/25/07) Amazing Comet Holmes
This is a special note to alert you to something you may want to see,
especially if you have access to a small telescope.Approximately 36 hours ago Comet Holmes (a normally inconspicuous
Jupiter-family comet with aphelion at the orbit of Jupiter and
perihelion at 2.2 AU) brightened by almost a million-fold. This is
equivalent to the planet Saturn suddenly becoming as bright as the
full moon. On October 23-24, Comet Holmes went from magnitude 17 to
magnitude 2.8 in just a few hours, doubling in brightness every half
hour. At its discovery in 1892, this comet also underwent a similar
sudden brightening, presumably due to a very large ejection of gas
and dust.The comet is now easily visible to the naked eye as a bright yellow
“star” in the constellation Perseus. For northern hemisphere
observers, it can be seen almost all night, passing nearly overhead.
A good source for the latest information is the Sky & Telescope
webpage http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10775326.html
or at http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0017P/2007.html. The best
finding chart I have seen is on the Netherlands webpage
http://www.shopplaza.nl/astro/.I looked at the comet about midnight last night from the balcony of
my urban townhouse. It was about magnitude three, and at low
telescopic power it was conspicuous as a bright yellowish disk,
looking almost like a planet. At moderate power the disk resolved
into a very bright inner coma and a slightly asymmetric fainter outer
cloud, but no tail was visible. I have never before seen anything
like it.David Morrison
–
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++NEO News (now in its thirteenth year of distribution) is an informal
compilation of news and opinion dealing with Near Earth Objects
(NEOs) and their impacts. These opinions are the responsibility of
the individual authors and do not represent the positions of NASA,
the International Astronomical Union, or any other organization. To
subscribe (or unsubscribe) contact dmorrison@arc.nasa.gov. For
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this disclaimer.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Too much cloud cover for me here last night. Tonight doesn’t look promising either. But as Jack Horkheimer always says, I’ll “keep looking up.”
October 25th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I read about this late on BABlog last night and found it at just about my zenith through a wispy layer of ice crystals in the sky, which also gave the moon an enormous Halo 3 (whoops, I simply meant halo, of course).
What an unexpected treat at the end of the day! It was too late to set up my SCT, but we have a clear forecast tonight here in Portland, OR, and I’ll be setting up tonight.
Thanks for once again making BABlog rewarding site to visit in more ways than one.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Has anybody checked with Hoagland about this?
After all, there is NO CAHNCE that a natural object can increase in luminosity a MILLIONFOLD in just a few hours! This HAS TO BE an expiditionary scout ship, entering its breaking program. Rest assured, this vehicle will take up a parking orbit, just beyond the reach of our missiles, to observe us for a while, before they make themselves known, (in 2012, of course) and usher in a new dawn of enlightenment, peace and Galactic Federation for all Humanity (Except for the “scientists at NASA of course, since they are interested only in keeping us in the dark about these events).
October 25th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Sergeant Zimon asks: “Has anybody checked with Hoagland about this?”
I don’t care what Mr. Hoagland says but if we wanted to apply a SciFi take on this very cool real event, I’d just wish we had a Star Trek Shuttlecraft or a Moon Base Alpha Eagle to pop on over for a closer look, within standard 55 minute time measurement minus commercials of TV episodes.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I’ve just been out to look at it in Denmark. To the naked eye it looks just like a 2-3 magnitude star. In small binoculars it is very planet like with a hint of elongation which makes it look rather like saturn. I’m far too lazy to change back from pyjamas to real clothes, so a telescope view will have to wait until tomorrow.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
SOS, clouds and more clouds. Wish things of this
interest would happen when it is clear in Pittsburgh.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Well fingers crossed I will be able to observe tonight. The forcast is calling for clear skies here in Edmonton and I am totally excited to take a look!
Ps, smooth moves Bigfoot!
October 25th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Edward C.: I couldn’t agree with you more.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Sweet report.
They’re calling for clear skies here tonight again, so you can be sure I can’t wait to look it up tonight as well. I wonder when it’ll fade or if another surprise will pop up! This is so exciting
October 25th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Our local telescope has a public observing night scheduled for Friday, so it should be a cool thing to show the visitors if the weather holds up.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
csrster: “I’m far too lazy to change back from pyjamas to real clothes, so a telescope view will have to wait until tomorrow.”
Mrs. Chip and I were also in our pajamas in front of our house in Northern California at 3:30 AM with Comet Holmes overhead! I bet there are more pajama clad observers around the world than one would assume.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
[...] all this on Bad Astronomy, and Phil has David Morrison’s NEO news piece of today in full (here), as well as further links to information sources and another post on locating the object here, and [...]
October 25th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Lousy clouds here leave me nothing but a grey slate to look at.
Grrrr.
October 25th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I looked at the orbit of this comet and the last time it passed close to Jupiter was back in 1970. The next close pass would be after 2020.
I wonder what preturbed this Comet to expose itself like this, all the sudden…Hmmm
October 25th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Sort of clear skies here in Atlanta, but enough humidity to haze things up, and the full moon gives just enough brightness to wash out nearly everything… Gonna have to check again early tomorrow AM.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Aha! Saw it!
After a night of cloud cover last night in NW Fla., things cleared up tonight, and it took me very little time to find it. Through my binocs, it did look a little elongated, as though a tail might be forming, but that’s a guess as I didn’t use the tripod with the binoculars because my eyes are way too tired from looking at small numbers on a computer all afternoon to really observe.
It really is quite a sight; like a star suddenly appearing out of the depths of the universe. A bit yellowish to my eyes, with a soft glow and no “twinkle” due to its proximity to earth.
Even with the full moon blazing nearby, it’s not difficult to find and certainly worth stepping outside for a look.
Beautiful and, dare I say it, romantic.
Thanks for the heads-up, Phil. I’ve not yet seen anything in the mainstream news outlets about this phenomenal event.
Bad Astronomy rules! Well, you know what I mean…..
October 25th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Well, the clouds parted here in NY, at least somewhat. I don’t know if I’m looking at the right spot, but at 11:30 local time, in a northeasterly direction, there is an extremely bright reddish yellow “planet”. I can’t see Cassiopeia, but this “star” is a good distance left of (ie: approx. 9 o’clock from) Orion.
Is this Comet Holmes, or is this Mars?
October 25th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Well, we’re about 40 miles due east of the fires near Lake Arrowhead (I’m in Twentynine Palms, CA) and the wind has shifted- great news for the firefighters, but the lousy smoke is all coming our way- you can usually see the milky way from my driveway, but tonight you can’t even see any stars at all! I have a brand new Celestron 8 just waiting to be taken outside, and its USELESS out there!!! WAH!!!
October 26th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Took my 12.5 in Dob out about 11:30 here in central Oregon, near Sisters. Absolutely clear, bright full moon. Steady seeing, too. Under low power, my 32 mm EP about 40x, the comet looked almost pearl-like. As elsewhere reported, bright inner disc with a slightly off-center outer, well defined disc. Compared with Mars, outer disc was about 4 times the diameter, inner disc about equal to Mars’ diameter. With higher power (~60) it looked more like a pinpoint in the center of the smaller disc. I thought I saw a faint halo further out from the outer disc but that may be optics. Spectacular! I even got my wife to come out into the cold to look at it and she was impressed. This is someone who finds the Andromeda galaxy boring.
October 26th, 2007 at 8:55 am
I observed Holmes through a 10″ Dobsonian about a mile from downtown Minneapolis. Clear and cool with good conditions, and even with a ton of skyglow it looked just like the pictures that are floating around the ‘net. The difference in brightness between the coma and the halo is really striking. Anyone hear anything about a reputed change in angular diameter over the past couple of days? I thought I did, but can’t find the reference now.
Ken – yes that was Mars, at the feet of Gemini.
October 26th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Smoke from all the fires around LA scattered the city light and moon light badly. Could barely make out planets, much less a 2nd mag. object
October 26th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Dr. Gray hit the nail on the head recently. He stated that if you aren’t on the Global Warming bandwagon, you don’t get grants.
The left distorts this more than President Bush. They supress anyone that doesn’t follow their mantra.
October 26th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
A good friend of mine, Eduardo Hernández, took photos of Comet Holmes and spaceweather published here http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/holmes/26oct07/Eduardo-Hernandez-cometholmescompartivecopia_1193424306.jpg
Hope you enjoy it
Best regards
October 31st, 2007 at 7:13 am
I hope somebody is doing a spectral analysis of the halo. It seems to me that, like the disappearing polar ice caps of Mars, the sudden visibility of Holmes may be indicative of an increase of solar radiation; in Holmes’s case, surpassing a tipping point causing the comet material to boil. Just a thought.