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Comet 17P/Holmes
by Simon at 09:37 25/10/07 (Blogs::Simon)
This is a periodic comet, not a new one, and usually it's very dim.

In the last 48 hours it's brightened from mag 18 to mag 2 and is plainly visible in the constellation of Perseus, looking like a new star (no apparent tail).

Each single step in magnitude is the fifth root of 100 (2.512) so 16 magnitudes is a couple of million times brighter.

Some pics here:

http://www.arksky.org/smf/index.php?topic=1429.0

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simon

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Comet 17P/Holmes Simon - 09:37 25/10/07
Re: Comet 17P/Holmes Simon - 09:28 26/10/07
Here's another image of the comet:

http://www.visualuniverse.org/comet_17P.shtml

... very odd appearance.
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simon

Re: Comet 17P/Holmes Bruce Ure - 10:01 26/10/07
That's not a comet. It's a giant Ibuprofen.

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Re: Comet 17P/Holmes Simon - 10:55 26/10/07
$God's got a hangover :-)
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simon
Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - pics Simon - 22:45 28/10/07
Got a clear evening, so took the opportunity to take a few shots of the comet with my DX6490.

Here's the best one:

Comet 17P Holmes 2007-10-28 19:28 Kodak DX6490 10x 6 seconds 400 ISO

Note the lack of a tail - this is for two reasons, firstly the outburst of activity was only a few days ago and the debris hasn't been strung out by the solar wind as yet.

Secondly, the Earth is almost directly between the comet and the Sun and since comet tails point away from the Sun any newly forming tail is effectively 'behind' the circular glow of the comet's head from our point of view.

Although it looks like you might imagine a comet would appear if it was headed straight for us, it isn't. It's about 2.5 AU from us and its orbit doesn't intersect ours.

To the naked eye, it's as bright as the stars in Cassiopeia and Perseus and looks like a bright fuzzy blob. Binoculars show it well.

Here's a finder chart if you'd like to have a go at spotting it (the chart's in the right hand margin of the page).
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simon

Attachments...
JPG image (298 K) Comet 17P Holmes
- Deleted User Account - 08:35 29/10/07
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Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - better pics Simon - 12:14 31/10/07
Did some stacking and processing of the pics taken last night with the DX6490 and here's the result.

Whole frame

Closeup

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simon
Attachments...
JPG image (112 K) Whole frame
JPG image (24 K) Closeup
Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - animation of the outburst Simon - 23:04 28/10/07
I recommend the .swf version:

http://artics.de/c.rollwagen/dirr/index.php?dir=..%2Fpublic%2FAC%2F
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simon

Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - photo gallery Simon - 23:15 28/10/07
http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_holmes_page4.htm
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simon
Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - nice photo Simon - 12:56 29/10/07
From Persia:

http://www.dreamview.net/dv/new/photos.asp?id=101410&cat=NightSky
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simon

- Deleted User Account - 18:01 29/10/07
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- Deleted User Account - 19:59 29/10/07
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Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - hooray, a tail :-) Simon - 21:05 29/10/07
http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Sean-Walker-CometHolmes_1193686372_fl.jpg
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simon
Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - nicest pic so far Simon - 17:34 01/11/07
http://cometography.com/pcomets/017p.html
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simon
Re: Comet 17P/Holmes - an idea of scale Simon - 09:47 07/11/07
A wide field view showing α and δ Persei in relation to the comet - gives you an idea of just how large the coma is.

http://www.eanet.com/kodama/astro/2007/1102b/index.htm
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simon