Comet Holmes explodes making it visible to the naked eye!

[sce56]

Comet draws scientific, amateur interest
Comet Holmes rises in the N.E. sky above Coyote Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. It's visible to the naked eye and better seen with binoculars. Discovered in the late 19th Century, Holmes has become dramatically brighter in the past 2 weeks.
From the Associated Press
November 8, 2007


A comet that unexpectedly brightened in the last couple of weeks and is now visible to the naked eye is attracting professional and amateur interest.

Paul Lewis, director of astronomy outreach at the University of Tennessee, is drawing students to the roof of the Nielsen Physics Building for special viewings of Comet 17P/Holmes.


Photo Gallery
Comet Holmes The comet is exploding and its coma, a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by the sun, has grown to be bigger than the planet Jupiter. The comet lacks the tail usually associated with such celestial bodies but can be seen in the northern sky, in the constellation Perseus, as a fuzzy spot of light about as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper.

"This is truly a celestial surprise," Lewis said. "Absolutely amazing."

Until Oct. 23, the comet had been visible to modern astronomers only with a telescope, but that night it suddenly erupted and expanded.

A similar burst in 1892 led to the comet's discovery by Edwin Holmes.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event to witness, along the lines of when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into Jupiter back in 1994," Lewis said.

Scientists speculate the comet has exploded because there are sinkholes in its nucleus, giving it a honeycomb-like structure. The collapse exposed comet ice to the sun, which transformed the ice into gas.

"What comets do when they are near the sun is very unpredictable," Lewis said. "We expect to see a coma cloud and a tail, but this is more like an explosion, and we are seeing the bubble of gas and dust as it expands away from the center of the blast."

Experts aren't sure how long the comet's show will last but estimate it could be weeks if not months. Using a telescope or binoculars help bring the comet's details into view, they said.


Wow what about doom and gloom prophecies from ancient times?

[jebediah]

1. If you can't see the tail, doesn't that mean it's coming right at you? :) nt

[greyl]

2. lol. Nah, the tail doesn't trail the comet, exactly.

The tail is always on the side of the comet opposite of a sun.

[jebediah]

3. Dude, you're stepping on my apocalypse. nt

[sce56]

9. Just as long as you don't follow these guys

http://www.wave.net/upg/gate/

[alfredo]

4. there's a very small tail, it wasn't visible through my binocs.

[Javaman]

5. A comet explode and made everyone nake to the visible eye? nt

[leftofthedial]

6. gawdjeezis is PISSED!

Look for the fundies to start giving their shit away again in advance of the Rupture.



The comet ruptures. It's a sign of the Rapture!

[dave29]

8. That so needs to be a bumper sticker

n/t

[sce56]

7. A comparison in size to Jupiter from NASA

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071030.html

Comet Holmes' Coma Expands
Credit & Copyright: Eric Allen Observatoire du Cégep de Trois-Rivières
Explanation: Go outside tonight and see Comet Holmes. No binoculars or telescopes are needed -- just curiosity and a sky map. Last week, Comet 17P/Holmes underwent an unusual outburst that vaulted it unexpectedly from obscurity into one of the brightest comets in recent years. Sky enthusiasts from the northern hemisphere have been following the comet's progress closely. In this animation recorded from Quebec, Canada, the coma of Comet Holmes is seen noticeably expanding over the past few days. Jupiter has been placed artificially nearby to allow for a comparison of angular sizes and scaled to the size it would appear at the current location of Comet Holmes. How Comet Holmes will further evolve is unknown, with one possibility being that the expanding gas cloud that started from its recent outburst will slowly disperse and fade.



Will we see any KoolAid drinkers try to join the UFO in it Again?

[kelligesq]

10. Comet 17P/Holmes and ancient beliefs

"I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star.
Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at
that!" Then- whoosh, and I'm gone...and they'll never see
anything like it ever again... and they won't be able to
forget me- ever. ~ Jim Morrison"

"When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens
themselves blaze forth the death of princes. ~ Shakespeare,
Julius Caesar II"

Historically comets have been seen as evil omens, heralding
cataclysmic events, sudden political upheaval, and even the
death of kings. An astronomer would define the intermittent
appearance of this phenomenon as a relatively small
extraterrestrial body consisting of a frozen mass that travels
around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit. The word comet
stems from the Latin cometes meaning long-haired, describing
the characteristic tail of a comet that develops the closer it
gets to the Sun. 
So why would the ancients attribute the sudden appearance of a
hairy ball of light with doom and gloom.
 Well history is filled with accounts of the observation of
comets that occurred simultaneously with all sorts of
upheavals,financial, political, as well as births and deaths
of kings and leaders and beginning or endings of wars. Any
unusual light body would have been interpreted as a message
from the heavens, and of course kings were seen as the
expression of God on earth. 

For the second time this year a comet has appeared in the
night skies. Last winter Comet McNaught lit up the evening sky
as it passed in front of the starry back drop of the
constellation Aquila, the Eagle.  The world experienced the
loss of three "kings": James Brown, Gerald Ford, and
Sadam Hussein.

In late October, Comet 17P/Holmes appeared and astronomers
focused their telescopes on the brightening space snowball.
The comet was first discovered in 1892 by Edwin Holmes. While
conducting regular observations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31),
Holmes observed similar outbursts and magnitude changes as are
now occurring. On October 24, 2007 Comet Holmes shocked sky
watchers with a spectacular eruption, brightening almost a
million-fold from 17th to 2.5th magnitude in a matter of
hours.

Astrologically speaking Comet Holmes is transiting the
constellation Perseus, currently near the fixed star Mirfak.
Perseus and Andromeda were part of a group first written about
by the ancient astronomer Aratus in his book Phaenomena circa
275 BCE. As part of a group of northern stars called the royal
family, Perseus is the Prince, and Andromeda the Princess. The
constellations are connected by stories about horses and heads
(Medusa), slayings, and rescues (from dragons/reptiles). What
could that mean for today's "royals"

As you may see in the above image of the comet's projected
path, Holmes loops around the stars of Perseus. It first
encounters the fixed star Mirfak, which Brady's Book of Fixed
Stars describes as representing young, male energy. Its
expression could be one of increasing vitality, or inducing
potential recklessness or rashness of action. In late January,
Holmes meets up with the fixed star Algol, or Ras al-Ghul as
it was known to the Arabs meaning Head of the Demon. It may be
a reference to the Medusa's head which Perseus severed and
used to slay the dragon as he rescued Andromeda. In any
case,according to Brady ancient writers described it as
"the most malefic star in the heavens, causing hangings,
death by the loss of one's head, and any other foul, demonic
deed that could befall the human race." 
________
well I guess we can attest to financial troubles if you're
watching the stock market slide...and maybe the fall of kings
yesterday as Harken and Leahy were saying king g. and no man
is above the law.

[sce56]

11. Well put in your last

"well I guess we can attest to financial troubles if you're
watching the stock market slide...and maybe the fall of kings
yesterday as Harken and Leahy were saying king g. and no man
is above the law."

How about the assumption of the Governorship of Texas elected in 1994 seated in 1995 same year Hale Bopp was discovered! Uhh about July and became visible to naked eye in 96 - 97. I have seen where people tried to pull that together with Bush's metoric rise in power from the drunken fool son of a former president to the president. But isn't that like that downing st. memo fixing the facts around the events. Just saying you know we have ancient precedence to follow just like the Dodo's in Washington now.

[sce56]

12. More Pictures

[sce56]

13. More Pictures

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/Comet+17P+Holmes+sm.jpg