Comet 17P/Holmes
Tuesday 11th December 2007
Comet 17P/Holmes is still delighting skywatchers.
The latest picture left - shows where to find the Comet in the constellation of Perseus.
The Comet is still expanding and although its losing some of its previous brightness, under dark skies is still easy to see with the naked eye.
It is well worth the look!
Thursday 6th December 2007
On the right is exploding Comet 17P/Holmes. On the left is the double cluster of Perseus,a split-swarm of newborn stars about 7000 light years from Earth. To picture was captured on 3rd December. Masa Nakamura of Japan used a Nikon D70s and an 85mm lens. The camera was piggybacked on a telecope to track the stars for the 90 second exposure--but that's all. No fancy equipment was required. Courtesy Spaceweather.
Comet 17P/Holmes has grown so big since its October explosion than the comet is increasingly difficult to fit in the eyepiece of a backyard telescope. Wide-angle shots with unassisted digital cameras are a good way to monitor the comet. Just point, click, and submit your image.
Wednesday 21st November 2007
Comet 17P/Holmes is passing in front of Mirfak, the brightest star in the constellation Perseus also known as "Alpha Persei". Perseus is the ancient Greek hero who rescued Andromeda (who was chained to the rocks) from the sea monster Cetus.
The comet's expansion is still large but fading in brightness.
Comet 17P/Holmes updated Monday 19th Novewmber 2007
Comet Holmes is now very close to Mirfak, the brightest star of the constellation Perseus,"
reports Babak Tafreshi of Niasar, Iran. "Here the duo is shown over the 1600-year old fire temple of Niasar in Iran used for centuries by Zorostrians."
On Monday, Nov. 19th, Comet Holmes will swallow Mirfak! Not really, but the comet will pass directly in front of the star and the star will shine through the comet's vast translucent atmosphere. The overall effect will be that of a giant space-faring jellyfish swallowing a
phosphorescent treat. Astronomers, ready your telescopes!
Courtesy Babak Tafreshi/Spaceweather.
The comet viewed last night near Bundaberg Australia is very low in the late evening/early am. northern sky - it is still big but starting to lose it's brightness.
Comet 17P/Holes is now as big as the Sun!
16th November 2007
"Formerly, the sun was the largest object in the Solar System," says University of Hawaii astronomer David Jewett. "Now, Comet 17P/Holmes holds that distinction." On Nov. 9th, a team of Hawaii astronomers led by Rachel Stevenson measured the diameter of the comet's expanding debris cloud: 1.4 million kilometers, slightly larger than the sun itself.
Courtesy David Jewett/Spaceweather
Comet 17P/Holmes has been relentlessly expanding since its explosion on Oct 23rd and now it spans an angle in the sky almost half as wide as the full Moon. Picture courtesy of Helmut Groell, Moers, Germany.
Actually, the comet is even bigger than it looks. Comet Holmes is 150 million miles from Earth. The comet's physical diameter is thus seven times wider than the planet Jupiter --and it is still expanding.
The "Halloween" Comet:
Astronomers around the world agree.
Exploding Comet 17P/Holmes is one of the strangest things they've ever seen. Little did they know...
Last night, astrophotographer Alan Friedman of Buffalo, NY, took a close-up picture of the comet's core. "A strong deconvolution filter followed by multiple passes of unsharp mask and gaussian blur reveals startling new structure in comet 17P/Holmes." Here it is:
Trick or Treat!
Exploding Comet 17P/Holmes
25th, 26th, 27th October: Exploding Comet 17P/Holmes is now larger than Jupiter. Astronomer Eric Allen of Quebec's Observatoire du Cégep de Trois-Rivières combined images he captured on three consecutive nights (Oct. 25, 26 and 27) and placed them beside a picture of Jupiter scaled to the same distance as the comet:
Click on Comet 17P below:
Comet 17P Holmes as big as Jupiter 27/10/07
The "biggest Full Moon of 2007
26th October 2007 - Big Full Moon!
The Moon's orbit is an ellipse with one side 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other. The full Moon of Oct. 25-26 is located on the near side, making it appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we've seen earlier in 2007.
In the language of astronomy, the two ends of the Moon's orbit are called "apogee" and "perigee." Apogee is the farthest point, perigee the nearest: The full moon of 25-26th October 2007 is a "perigee Moon" with extra-high "perigean tides."
On 28th August 2007 all of Eastern Australia experienced a Total Lunar Eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth's shadow falls on the moon.
Lunar eclipses occur on average, about every six months.
Types of Lunar Eclipses:
* Total - When the entire moon enters the Earth's umbra (the darkest part of its shadow)
This is called a total lunar eclipse.
* Partial eclipse - when only part of the moon enters the Earth's umbra.