n2nh
10-31-2007, 12:13 PM
Comet 17P/Holmes is now visible with the naked eye.
Quote[/b] ]Now the theory is a sunlit dust cloud encircling it. Whatever the reason, the comet is suddenly bright enough to be visible to everyone, even in light-polluted cities, although the best view is definitely through binoculars or a telescope.
To the eye, it looks like a fuzzy star. No tail is visible. Magnified, it has a spectacular halo, sunlit into white transparency.
"I've never seen a comet like that," Blackwell says, which is quite a statement, since he does things like travel to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific to see a solar eclipse lasting 31 seconds. "No living person has seen this before."
Comet 17P/Holmes was discovered in November 1892, during a similar flare. Traveling between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, it circles the sun about every seven years, but it remained so faint that it was lost from the early 1900s until 1964. This year, it appeared as a dim speck that expanded within hours into a glowing ball.
Pictures of the comet (http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_holmes.html)
News Story and Location where the comet is in the night sky. (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=135882&ran=22009)
http://i2.tinypic.com/4yjz5le.jpg
Quote[/b] ]Now the theory is a sunlit dust cloud encircling it. Whatever the reason, the comet is suddenly bright enough to be visible to everyone, even in light-polluted cities, although the best view is definitely through binoculars or a telescope.
To the eye, it looks like a fuzzy star. No tail is visible. Magnified, it has a spectacular halo, sunlit into white transparency.
"I've never seen a comet like that," Blackwell says, which is quite a statement, since he does things like travel to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific to see a solar eclipse lasting 31 seconds. "No living person has seen this before."
Comet 17P/Holmes was discovered in November 1892, during a similar flare. Traveling between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, it circles the sun about every seven years, but it remained so faint that it was lost from the early 1900s until 1964. This year, it appeared as a dim speck that expanded within hours into a glowing ball.
Pictures of the comet (http://www.spaceweather.com/comets/gallery_holmes.html)
News Story and Location where the comet is in the night sky. (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=135882&ran=22009)
http://i2.tinypic.com/4yjz5le.jpg