Comet 17P/Holmes gone kaboom!

Post by **perseid** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:40 am

I received an email that comet 17P/Holmes had an outburst. It brightens from mag 16 to mag 4! The comet is currently in Perseus.

Get more info from
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0017P/2007.html

Rain, rain, go away, come again another.

Post by **weixing** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:45 am

Hi,
WOW!! But weather forecast for these few days wasn't good...

Let's keep all our fingers and toes cross!!

Have a nice day.

kochu · Post by **kochu** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:29 am

Wow ! Now at Magnitude 2.8 and still brightening. And it is a repeat show.

http://www.cometography.com/pcomets/017p.html

Kochu/25-10-07

vhuang168 · Post by **vhuang168** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:29 pm

It is naked eye for me. Just went outside and checked it out with my Canon 18X50 IS binos. Very bright core with a nice halo around it. Nice yellowish color, almost orange. But that could be from the fire happening down south as well. I'll start the mount later and see if I can grab a picture or 2.

Vincent

Post by **rcj** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:05 pm

seems like this is a great comet outburst without much of a tail!

vhuang168 · Post by **vhuang168** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:27 pm

I think the tail is behind it so you can't see it.

Vincent

Post by **Airconvent** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:34 pm

vhuang168 wrote:I think the tail is behind it so you can't see it.

Vincent

yeah...I figured that should be the reason when I read it was closest to the sun last May and has presently moved quite far away already. Everybody is guessing why and my theory is likely the dynamic thermal expansions probably created a great crack in its body resulting is massive outgassing of its internal ice store...

In anycase, we won't know unless we can send the USS Enterprise to do an investigation... They can beam some samples back to earth for analysis!

jiahao1986 · Post by **jiahao1986** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 6:39 am

Today between 3am and 6am, I and another person observed the comet successfully using our school club's 10inch Dob. The comet was indeed bright enough for naked eye. I estimate the magnitude to be around 2.8; and the diameter of coma is larger than 1 arcminute; high condensation; no tail detected. Another interesting thing is its yellow colour, which is very obvious in the 10 incher. Below is a sketch made by Wade Corbell, who used exactly the same scope as I. The sketch shows what the comet looks like in the 10 incher except for the yellow color, maybe he did not make much effort putting color into the sketch.

[align=center]

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According to various obervers, the size of coma is increasing fast, but the comet still remains at mag. 2 to 3. Hopefull tonight will be clear so we can keep track on this amazing comet!!!

Clear skies,
Jia Hao

Post by **rcj** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:22 am

it should be located quite far away at the moment (even though bright), hence probably figured the tail will not be that obvious since its proximity to the sun is still quite far. There was a similar outburst in Nov 1852 which lasted a few weeks. Let's hope this outburst will last long enough for those not blessed with good weather to see it...

kochu · Post by **kochu** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 10:13 am

Hi ,

There have been many speculations about this unique comet. Following quote from Dr. Clay Sherrod's posting

Quote

"some are now speculating that the core of the comet might have been HIT by an errant asteroid....interesting stuff.

There is not enough solar wind present at the distance (I believe about 220 million miles at this point) for much tail to develop quickly."

Unquote

Kochu/26-10-07

SingAstro

Comet 17P/Holmes gone kaboom!

Comet 17P/Holmes gone kaboom!

Comet 17P

17 P/Holmes