I just went outside to look at Comet Holmes. Wow, it’s changed in two days.
For one thing, it’s expanded a lot. I can see it’s not a star just with my unaided eyes! It looks distinctly fuzzy.
Through the ’scope it’s changed a lot as well. I took a bunch of pictures, but my equipment isn’t up to snuff. Here’s the best one:
This is a time exposure and my ’scope doesn’t track, so the image is a little blurred. You can just see in the image that the expanding debris has taken on a decidedly shell-like appearance (through the eyepiece this is really obvious). It’s brighter toward the edge! That’s a classic shape for something like this. As the debris expands, you see it brighter near the edges, because your line of sight intersects more debris toward the edge. Here is an excellent image of Holmes showing this.
The nucleus is slightly off-center to the shell. I am starting to suspect that this is not a shell of debris, but a jet or beam of debris that happened to be aimed either right toward us or directly away from us. That’s why it looks round. It must be 100,000 miles across by now. Wow.
Also, a star-like object can be seen above it– that’s the streaked line above the nucleus in my image. I originally thought that might have been a chunk that came off the comet, but now I think it’s just a background star. I’ll be going out to re-observe in an hour or so and that’ll make it clear. If it moves with the comet it’s a piece, if it stays put and the comet moves away from it it’s a star. Edited later to add: Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s a background star; the distance between it and the nucleus has clearly gotten bigger in two hours.
So this is the comet that keeps on giving! I think it will start to fade soon; as the debris expands it gets thinner and less able to reflect sunlight. Eventually it will disperse and fade away completely. But it’s stayed bright for three days now, and, with the Moon rising later every night, this is your best chance to see it! If you live near an observatory or University (in the northern hemisphere or not too far south fo the Equator), see if they have a viewing of it. You’ll be glad you did.
And I am really looking forward to better images taken tonight. This is really an amazing object.
October 28th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Had a look through a nice 20″ telescope tonight: small bright core (roughly similar in brightness to the nearby star, perhaps 6th mag?), elongated whitish halo, very extended yellower shell, almost perfectly round and slightly brighter on the side nearest the core, as you noted. This thing is awesome. It’ll be cool to see whether the shell stays round or gradually takes on a more extended appearance.
October 28th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
We’re having Monsoon weather. I’m happy…grrr! *grumble, grumble*
October 28th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
I just ran outside and checked. Very recognizably a faint fuzzy, not a star! Amazing!
October 28th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
What a remarkable object! I noted last night a starlike point offset from the centre of the cloud and assumed it was the nucleus…now I’m not so sure. Keep the updates coming, BA!
October 28th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Oh, one more thing…has there been ANY media attention? I mean, I KNOW that ever since Kohoutek (early 70s…yes, I’m really dating myself here!) the major media outlets would rather open a vein than report a cometary apparition (unless it has the magic name “Halley”, or perhaps “Hale-Bopp” attached to it…), but I’ve not heard word 1 about this anywhere but in Astro newsgroups and websites.
((Could it be that “Hale Bopp” got it’s first media attention because the name of one of it’s co-discoverers superficially resembled “Halley”? The world wonders…))
October 28th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
No media attention up here in northern BC.
Shame, too…beautiful clear night on tues/wed and I got some decent views thanks to online updates, but nothing to get the public (well, I am public I presume) into it.
October 28th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Um, re-phrase:
Shame too….nothing in the news to get the public into it.
There, thats better.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I saw the comet tonight thorough my 4.1″ scope. Quite spectacular. Yes I think it is diffusing rapidly. That’s very unfortunate. It also has moved conspicuously in the past couple of days. The “hairiness” is now visible to the naked eye, a consequence of the diffusion. I’m wondering if this comet makes it to the inner solar system? Its path hasn’t been mentioned, very little media attention, which is rather sad considering it is not only naked eye but conspicuous.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
OK I found out what I was interested in: Perihelion is 2.0 a.u.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Here is a pair of pictures my dad took with his 8″ celestron and a Canon 10D, about 2 second exposure. (I do his image processing). The pictures are separated by 24 hours, 27th & tonight, the 28th. It has increased in size, and the central nucleus is quite obvious.
http://terryblackburn.us/Astro/IMG_4384_R1.gif
October 29th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Check this out posted yesterday on the RASC site taken from Italy: http://www.astrosurf.com/comolli/com32e.htm
October 29th, 2007 at 1:41 am
there’s actually a nice image here: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0710/holmes_chekalin_big.jpg
and this one has stars in the background, so you know it can’t be a fake!
October 29th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Wait, what is that I see? Is that an image of the late Robert Oppenheimer in the upper right of the fuzzy ball? Or might it be the FSM? Hmm, this is one different comet!
October 29th, 2007 at 6:04 am
“It looks distinctly fuzzy.”
Is that kinda like Jumbo Shrimp?
October 29th, 2007 at 6:04 am
It’s pretty clear to me, from Phil’s image above, that this is a Steve Jobs phenomenon… it’s obviously the Apple logo, writ (extremely) large.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Congratulations to the lucky ones who had clear
skies. Maybe tonight will be my turn, if the comet
is still visible.
October 29th, 2007 at 8:06 am
fog, clouds, clouds, fog, fog………grrrrrrrrrr
October 29th, 2007 at 8:50 am
I left a comment on an earlier posting, and this one answered my questions — I was seeing a star! Thanks!
October 29th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Ray M,
That’s hilarious, you’re totally right. It does look like the Apple logo. Certainly a conspiracy!
Phil,
Is this comet moving through the asteroid belt? Is it possible that it got knocked by an asteroid? I heard that from one person, third-hand, but haven’t seen it anywhere else.
October 29th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
It is pretty awesome…I’ve been pointing it out to almost everyone I meet when it’s dark out…I just noticed the fuzzy appearance last night, and was pleasantly surprised to hear my wife mention it without me pointing it out to her! (She likes to stargaze, but she’s not big on the science portion…I am slowly training her, and this is proof!)
Everyone I’ve shown it to thinks it’s amazing, even though it is nowhere near as impressive as Hale-Bopp was to the naked eye.
October 29th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Remarkable. I’ve just had my first look through an 8 inch schmidt-cass. It looks just like the best photo’s.
I think it is brighter than Hale Bopp at the same distance when on its inward leg. Now Hale Bopp was a massive comet so that gives some indication of the magnitude of this outburst!
October 29th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Hopefully when the skies clear up I can take my binoculars to it (no telescope, grrr, argh).
October 29th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
SpikeNut:
I think it unlikely it has been impacted by an asteroid. The chances of a collision are extremely small: despite their being a lot of asteroids they are still very sparsely distributed. Further, this comet has brightened enormously before, e.g. at discovery.
My theory is that is has suffered a ‘re-arrangement’ event, brought on by stronger perihelion forces. We’ve seen pictures of asteroids that are essentially loosely connected piles of rubble, and comets that readily disintegrate as they near the sun. If this comet is like that then it is possible that it has internally collapsed to a lower energy configuration and in the process released mega-tons of debris. Additionally, perihelion would be more or less the time to expect such a catastrophic adjustment.
I believe there is another theory whereby some gigantic dust filled cavity has suddenly been revealed. Seems unlikely to me
regards,
October 29th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
[...] Comet 17/P Holmes update no Bad Astronomy [...]
October 29th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
It was actually mentioned in our local newspaper on Saturday (I think – maybe Sunday). I was shocked, because our paper tends to ignore things like that.
October 29th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Just got the first chance to see comet Holmes tonight – the previous nights were clouds all over.
It is heavily light polluted here (The Hague, Netherlands), so the comet is not conspicuous with the naked eye.
In a 15×50 pair of binoculars it springs to life an looks much like the images all over, albeit no green glow. It looks bigger than I expected.
October 29th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Just Fantastic. I just took my 14 year old daughter outside to see the comet with a cheap set of binoculars…and she was like…WOW! Priceless!
Thanks, BA!
October 30th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Hey Phil, truely I think your picture of comet Holmes is cool. Hey what’s up Holmes? or what’s up, Holmes– I’m sure that the “bad” in Bad Astronomy has a new-wave meaning like rad as apposed to the traditional. Keep up the good work in astronomy and this interesting web-site.
October 30th, 2007 at 2:04 am
It was pyjama-astronomy time again this morning at 6a.m. Holmes is now very clearly a big-fuzzy to the naked eye, and to my eye also appears brighter than it did a couple of days ago – although that might be an effect of the good sky-transparency this morning. This is definitely the comet that keeps on giving!
October 30th, 2007 at 4:56 am
Just caught it in the early am, amazingly bright.
October 30th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Thanx for all the comments. I have clear skies but battle street lights and trees. Did see it last nite. Cool! I’m Inez at 7200 ft altitiude New Mexico
October 30th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Observed it last night – great seeing from my location in SW Kansas. Except for the basics, not that in the know about comets. I noticed a bright nucleus with what looked like a slight bulge, and glowing fuzzy area around it, and then what looked like a faint area beyond that then clear stellar region. What concerns me is that I didn’t see any sign of a tail. Someone correct me on this if I’m missunderstanding my observation, but if a dart was thowing at me and I don’t see the tail of dart, then it’s heading for me, eh?
Thanks,
Jim Oss
homeontherangesunflowers@yahoo.com
Jetmore, Kansas
October 30th, 2007 at 10:50 am
No Jim,
The tail of a comet always faces away from the sun both coming and going so it seems that you probably have no problem (you knew that) unless — you live on one of the poles of Mercury. Then I think you might have a chance of let’s say one in a hundred that you could personally touch the tail of this or some future comet, or visa versa.
October 30th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Got my first look tonight from a mountain top in southeast ky.
Through my 12″ Orion XT12, the view was nothing short of amazing!
At first I thought I was seeing a star in the background but seeing the pictures on the net, I know now I was seeing the starlike nucleus!
A truely beautiful sight.
October 31st, 2007 at 7:57 am
Can any one please come kick some cloud butt??? I’m currently in Romania, my home country and it’s a bit cloudy for me to make it out… also i’m planning on purchasing these 60×90 binoculars to look at the sky with, i’m getting a an awesome deal on them, i think it’s about $30. can’t wait for the upgrade of a not so well made 20×50 pair.
may the stars wait for me a few days and the comet as well.
keep gazing at the sky, the answers to all questions are up there….
October 31st, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I got my first cloud free opportunity last night and WOW! Visible to the naked eye, the view from my balcony faces NE so I’m quite familiar with the NE sky and it was quite noticeable as “something that hadn’t been there before”. Fuzzy, indistinct. The I looked at it through my 8″ Dobsonian – fantastic. Pale yellow, larger than I was expecting, a real treat to observe.
My plans for Halloween night are to set up my telescope in the front yard, and when the kids and parents come by I will invite them all to take a look. Much better than candy, although I better have that ready as well. Perhaps I’ll generate some more young stargazers.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:00 am
http://www.jmccanneyscience.com/
November 1st, 2007 at 11:40 am
I don’t know about you guys but I believe this comet has a double nucleus..
At least all of my pictures show two bright areas and has done so for the last 5 days.
Can anyone comfirm this.
Bill
November 1st, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Just went outside and checked this comet out…too cool. All I have is some binoculars. I live in a small town in north central Alabama so it gets pretty dark at night and tonight it was very clear. I’m new to astronomy and thought it was a good beginner thing to find. It looked like a fuzzy snowball…to me anyway.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Comet Holmes is connected with the mahasamadhi of the spiritual master Sri Chinmoy on October 11, 2007. Every time something most important is happening on Earth comet appear. The birth of Jesus, begining of the world war, passing of spiritual master Ramana Maharishi. Now Sri Chinmoy took mahasamadhi and on indian tradition a comet appear after 12 days. It is a important sign.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:21 pm
Bill, regarding double nucleus: last night (1 November) there was a star opposite the nucleus about as far from the center of the outer edge of the visible comet as is the nucleus. As the evening went by it showed apparent movement and tonight it is a good distance from the comet.
I have seen many photos and don’t really see a double nucleus in them.
The nucleus doesn’t seem to be nearly as distinct as it was when I started observing it. The outer limits (shades of old TV shows) seem to be more distinctly defined on one side compared with the other. I wonder if that is the tail peeking at us. I’ll have to check the orientation of that next time I get out. The skies went real hazy on me tonight so I gave up.
I am observing with a 12.5 in Dobs and the 32 mm EP is best now that the comet has gotten so large. In central Oregon near Bend.
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:46 am
Hi. I’m from Canada, and I saw the comet last night (Nov 2). Unfourtuneatly I didn’t see Comet McNaught earlier this year, but I did see this one. Since I live in a light-polluted reigon and my eyesight isn’t all that good, I first saw a glimpse of the comet in my binoculars. Using my telescope, I could see a fuzzy ball about 10 arcmins in diameter, with a bright spot in the middle. Too bad my telescope is only 2 in. Some people say it will become bigger than the moon’s apparent size. It’s already 70% the diametre of the Sun. BTW Comet McNaught’s coma was bigger than the sun at its largest. ~~~~
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Nov. 3, rural Harnett Co., North Carolina 11pm. I could see the comet tonight with the naked eye and with a cheap pair of binoculars, it was very obvious. beautiful clear sky, very bright stars tonight! I even drug my wife outside to see it!
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Nov. 3, rural Harnett Co., North Carolina 11pm. I could see the comet tonight with the naked eye and with a cheap pair of binoculars, it was very obvious. beautiful clear sky, very bright stars tonight! I even dragged my wife outside to see it!
November 5th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I am new to this. Can someone tell me where I should look? I live on the coast of North Carolina. I think I see this in the Northern sky just above tree line. I am not sure though. Any help would be appreciated. I have been trying to help my ten year old daughter. She is very interested and I never learned about astronomy and the constellations. We have watched two meteor showers together this summer.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Just spent a few minutes looking at it. Even got my wife to come out and look. With the naked eye it looked like a fuzzy star. Used a very cheap pair of binoculars and could definetly see the “cloud” and a slightly brighter center. Pretty neat!
For Flora: http://www.skyandtelescope.com had a couple of very simple star charts that helped me locate where to look. Hope this helps.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
this probably helps: Just north of Boston, MA with heavy light pollution, yet had no problem!
November 6th, 2007 at 11:44 am
My husband noticed this with his naked eyes as he was in the hot tub in the backyard. He said something is going on. He did not recall seeing such a large bright fuzzy object in the sky. We then did some searches on the net and sure enough found out it was a comet explosion. The media has not covered any of it- only global warming discussions which is so insignificant and trivial compare to something like this.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:47 am
To Jacob: I read some of what you had to say (on your site) about a lot of s Nasa or any space agencies talking about this comet. Actually, if you go there to see what they have to say, you will see a really nice “short movie” of the outburst (from Oct 25 through Oct 27) and beside it to show how “big” this was is a picture of Jupiter. Don’t stir the stupid pot man. Don’t spew what you don’t really know or investigated just to be able to spew! Thank you.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:06 am
[...] 17P/Holmes suddenly exploded on October 24, and is now visible as a comet to the naked eye. No one’s sure why – it might [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
The research on this is horrible. I don’t understand; why aren’t Brian Marsden and Don Yeomans involved? We don’t have speed, what the gas was that caused the explosion, nor basic compositional data of the comet itself. You can contact me at mattvanauker@yahoo.com. I’m just trying to find some basic data on this, which is completely absent from the Internet. Wow. This sucks. NASA is dragging its dead, sorry-ass on this.
November 8th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Get real, NASA dragging? Sorry, they don’t have an unlimited budget and certainly don’t knee-jerk react to situations like this. This wasn’t a planned event after all.
People get what they pay for.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I wonder idf the HiRISE on the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter got a look? Mars & Holmes are on the same side of the Sun after all.
Holmes was only about 1,3 AU from Mars at the time.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Hi. Clear skies are predicted again tonight, so I hope I can get another good look at the comet. Finding the comet, even in my telescope, is no problem for me. You can find it too. First, go outside on a clear evening, and find north. If you don’t know where north is, look for three bright stars that form a triangle. Look in the opposite direction of sky, and locate the big dipper. Find the pointer stars that point towards Polaris, then shift yourself a little more toward the right. You will see a bright star low in the sky called Capella. Look above Capella and a little to the left, and there’s a relatively bright star. Look closely, and that star forms a triangle of three rather-semi-bright “star”s. The “star” on the left-bottom part of the triangle is the comet. It should look like a fuzzy ball in binoculars. If you need a star map, try this one: http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky . Now, tonight I’ll try to find Uranus. I’ve got my finderscope adjusted, so hopefully I’ll find it. ~~~~
November 14th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Thank everyone for the help. As I am out most evenings I am becoming a star gazer. I told my daughter that I was going to get her a telescope for Christmas. What I really meant is that I will get her a telescope so that when she loses interest, I will have a practically new telescope. I will continue to stop by for updates on interesting events to watch in the evening sky.
Thanks again for the help.
November 16th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
After re-orienting myself on Monday night (1/12/07), I finally found the little guy. I was about to give up when I spotted an area that looked a little different from the rest of the sky. Using my binoculars, I confirmed my suspicions.
This is not a comet. This is a piece of fuzzy blue-green lint on the fabric of space-time. Again, Einstein was correct! What a genius!
I understand that the Japanese are hurrying to launch a cosmic lint roller in an attempt to bring it back to earth. It would be a tremendous coup.
However, some theologians argue that we should not interfere with it – that it is beyond our comprehension. They maintain that what we humble beings are seeing is nothing less than the Lint in God’s Navel!
If they are right, then we should not be contemplating God’s Navel.
(Seriously, this is an amazing sight.)
November 16th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
What is the farthest place south that you can see the comet? I really want to see it, and I live in central Florida. I am thinking about driving up the east coast so I can see it, but I need to know where.
November 17th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
also live in Central
florida. I also want to see the comet. What is the best time? and what quadrsnt of the night sky?
November 18th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I´m from central Brazil and I was surprised last night when I looked to Perseus and found this huge bright fuzzy thing, which I found, through your site, to be 17P Holmes comet.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I have been watching this thing for many weeks now. I have been telling everybody I know about it. At first I thought it was a planet.. Because it was so bright and large. It was brilliant. Definately a once in a lifetime experience.. I only want to know why it blew up and wether or not its blowing up will affect us in the future. I guess time will only tell. Until then. Keep watching the skies. I know i will……
November 21st, 2007 at 5:25 am
In Phoenix, Az @ 5:15 am, it looks simply amazing, even through binoculars.
Standard ice-ball & dust descriptions do not apply to this object. This is an electrical phenomenon, an interaction between the Sun, Comet Holmes and plasma energy.
Tesla lives.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I have been following the comet (given a CLEAR sky) for about a month now…all I’ve seen is just the coma, NO nucleus at all!
! Using a nearby guide star, I track its motion…BUT to me, it’s VERY nebulous (no pun intended) or amorphous!
I have both binoculars AND an 8″ newtonian reflector; but tonight, it’s a full moon
I almost have to use averted vision.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
As a twist of irony, it’s almost more impressive through BINOCULRS than a telescope!
November 24th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
No newspaper (or TV) coverage? My guess is, the media probably thinks “this kind of thing” is too exotic? or “esoteric”?? For example, “the kids might like it”. It’s not popular like sports….
December 1st, 2007 at 2:50 am
So…
If Comet 17/P Holmes gets much brighter again around December 22 (and especially if we get a rash of out of season hurricanes), does that lend credence to Jim McCanny’s “bad” astronomy?
Just asking because he’s the only one I can find making that prediction. Another Q:
How many years does it have to hang around before he gets a little “astro-love”?
December 28th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
He (McCanney) is now claiming on his web site that Holmes has brightened again and that it is now 6-8 times the diameter of the Sun. Can anyone confirm this?