Comments on: Lame Comet Holmes video

By: Lonny

Lonny — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 03:04:26 +0000

…so a freind and I went out to look at the stars the other night. We took some binoculars and lounge chairs. We had no idea of any of this and are just learning how to use a sky chart. We were pretty proud to be able to find things like the Andromeda Glxy or THe Pliedes (sp?). We wer both looking in that part of the sky when almost simultaneously we blurt out “What the &^$#& is that?!?!?”

We look at the chart and even went into the house (waking my wife w/ the excitement) to look in better books and my Celestron software. We just couldn’t figure out what it could be (no galaxy of that brightess in the spot, we didn’t think clusters looked like that) it just didn’t make sence…..until my wife stumbles on a web article on it this morning. I then google and find all kinds of stuff (like this). When it described where it was – we knew that’s what we say.

Very exciting – thought I’d share

By: Jerry G

Jerry G — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:10:24 +0000

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 Holmesâ€™s case, surpassing a tipping point causing the comet material to boil. Just a thought. You know, more evidence that global warming is caused by the sun’s natural cycles, not by humans.

By: John

John — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:40:10 +0000

Forget about the video, as it just doesn’t do it justice.
Just look the comet’s position on a map referenc as to where it is (www.spaceweather.com have one), and then go out and see it –preferably with a telescope, and if not a set of binoculars.
I gurantee you it will be worth it.
I saw it last night through a 4″ telescope and could actually see two small star-like points within it (presumabley parts of the nucleus having broken up).
Cheers
John

By: Navneeth

Navneeth — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:37:03 +0000

Thanks for the video, Phil.

By: John

John — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 03:55:46 +0000

Turn off auto-focus. =-)

Guess I should grab my binoculars and head outside to see if it’s clear(er) than it was last night.

By: eddie

eddie — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:45:43 +0000

AARGH!! Cloudy in Fla. once again.

Imagine that.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:25:16 +0000

I don’t want to update this post again, so I’ll comment here: I wonder if the jet of escaping dust was aimed right at us or away from us. That would explain why it is not off-center, and possibly also why it appears edge-brightened now.

By: Nick Theodorakis

Nick Theodorakis — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:19:40 +0000

I finally got a look tonight — we’ve had cloud cover the last four days. Great view through a 10in Dob. I also saw two dots of light as Matt did.

Nick

By: Huron

Huron — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:05:10 +0000

I was looking at Comet Holmes tonight and it appears to have dimmed a bit, but I also thought I saw a very (and I do mean very) small hint of a tail forming.

By: Matt Rudzicz

Matt Rudzicz — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:31:53 +0000

There are 2 nuclei visible tonight (Sunday Oct. 28, 8:30 EDT). The comet appears to be breaking up.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:09:08 +0000

Marco– I was hoping to make it a little more immediate. Plus, I wasn’t sure how it would look on the video. Once I brought it inside and digitized it (major pain) it wasn’t that much harder to just edit it and stick it online.

By: Paul Smith

Paul Smith — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:52:50 +0000

Cleared off in the UK today, so I managed to get some photos of it will be interesting to see if it does develop a small tail with all this material that has been thrown off. The thing that really shocked me the most was the angular size of this thing, considering it’s 1.5 AU away it is huge.

If anybody wants to have a look at my snaps they’re up here: http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/2007/10/28/comet_17p_holmes

By: Dan Gerhards

Dan Gerhards — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:39:55 +0000

Is anyone at the STScI talking about taking an image with the Hubble? It would be nice to get a clearer idea of what is going on.

By: Marco

Marco — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:11:02 +0000

Honest question: what’s the point of making a video of something that has no apparent movement or change? Apart from the commentary which could be a caption to a still photograph…

By: Michael Lonergan

Michael Lonergan — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:04:59 +0000

Hmmmm…. What is the object that I saw trailing just behind it….? Could it be that they are coming to take the cute doggy that “popped” up in the middle of the video? LOL

That was a very cool video. There is nothing like looking through a scope and seeing these objects with your own eyes. That personal experience beats all the fantastic images provided by Hubble ot any other telescope.

Keep up the good work! I had your book, Bad Astronomy, but lost it in a move… I’ll have to pick it up again.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:11:10 +0000

You’re right. That is a pretty rough video, but you did manage to make it pretty entertaining, and I couldn’t help but laugh at a couple spots. Hopefully, if it’s got a tail, someone will be able to get a picture of it. That would be pretty awesome.