Comet bursting to mag 2.5... from 17th magnitude!

[Michelle]

Way cool news from spaceweather.com! (http://www.spaceweather.com)

Astronomers in Japan, Persia and Europe report that Comet 17P/Holmes is undergoing a spectacular eruption. The 17th magnitude comet has brightened by a factor of five hundred thousand or more during the past 24 hours becoming a naked-eye object in the evening sky. Look for a yellow 2.5th magnitude fuzzball in the constellation Perseus after sunset.

Wow! What a jump! I hope the skies will stay clear! I wanna see!!! :eye-poppi

[hopfen]

This is just to torment me, right?
Totally overcast for days, forecast to remain that way for days.
Perfect conditions for heavenly spectaculars!
:rolleyes:

[TheDoLittle]

BadAstronomer blogged about it also...

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/10/24/breaking-news-sudden-naked-eye-comet/

Unfortunately, downtown Houston is right in the line of sight from my house, so all I probably will be seeing is a lot of glare from the city's lights.

I do plan on an ISS/Discovery view sometime tonight.

[ksbluesfan]

That's awesome! My kids have been getting bored with Jupiter and its moons every night.

[sts60]

BadAstronomer blogged about it also...

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/10/24/breaking-news-sudden-naked-eye-comet/

Unfortunately, downtown Houston is right in the line of sight from my house, so all I probably will be seeing is a lot of glare from the city's lights...

If it holds up, I'd try getting out to the George Observatory (http://www.hmns.org/see_do/george_observatory.asp?r=1) in Brazos Bend State Park this Saturday. (I used to be a telescope operator there.) I have to imagine the comet would be an observing target. Get there early for viewing tickets if the weather's good.

As for me,... what hopfen said.

[Cudachaser]

Darn...It's raining here in Cocoa Beach, Florida

[TheDoLittle]

If it holds up, I'd try getting out to the George Observatory (http://www.hmns.org/see_do/george_observatory.asp?r=1) in Brazos Bend State Park this Saturday. (I used to be a telescope operator there.) I have to imagine the comet would be an observing target. Get there early for viewing tickets if the weather's good.

I've got a Halloween party up in Spring this Saturday, and being it's out in BFE, I might get a good look at the sky. If I can talk the wife into it, I'll pack up my telescope and bring it along for everyone. I hope whatever is causing the magnitude jump will last till then.

[Michelle]

I just got back from seeing it! It's GREAT. With a quick glance of the naked eye you'd mistake it for a star, but if you know Perseus you just KNOW that star was not there before! You can't miss it, since there's a star near it that seems to be the same magnitude.

...Unfortunately that's not the case for me so it took me a while to figure it out :)

[BenBurch]

Damn its set here already.

[TheDoLittle]

I spent the better part of half an hour going outside looking for it. It was as I feared. The Houston skyline got in the way. I gotta get back to classes now. We're doing a laser-blasted asteroid animation in 3D Studio Max.

[Achán hiNidráne]

Tried to search for it last night, but the moon was so bright you could read by it. So I decided to start earlier when the moon was lower in the sky. After much scanning with my 6 inch Dob, I found it! A bright fuzzy blob with a bright center that's too big to be a star. No tail, sadly. Still it was an amazing find!

[B.S]

I managed to catch it. Its quite a sight. I took some pics of it with my compact digital camera and my old refracting telescope.




Just the camera, no magnification. 15 sec exposure.


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/BJPS/Images%202/Cometnormalview.jpg





Just camera, three times zoom.


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/BJPS/Images%202/Cometthreetimeszoom.jpg





Camera, held up to eyepiece of 60 mm refractor.


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/BJPS/Images%202/Throughtelescope.jpg





Cropped section of picture above.


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/BJPS/Images%202/Closeup.jpg
.

[Achán hiNidráne]

That's what I saw! Neat isn't it?

[B.S]

Spectacular, I think. This doesn't happen very often.

[TheDoLittle]

Spectacular, I think. This doesn't happen very often.


Did you post those pics over at the BAUT forum (http://www.bautforum.com/astrophotography/)?

[Schneibster]

I hope it's still going this evening- I got fogged two days running.

[Michelle]

Awesome pictures you got there, BS!

Unfortunately for me, after two good observation nights the skies are gonna cloudy up for a few days. I might miss the ending ;(

[alfaniner]

Just imagine if this had happened at Xmastime. Yikes.

[Fnord]

Just imagine if this had happened at Xmastime. Yikes.

No kidding!

Besides, where could you find three wise men AND a virgin, all in one place?

[Kopji]

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/maps_images/html/comet1_map.htm

[B.S]

Did you post those pics over at the BAUT forum (http://www.bautforum.com/astrophotography/)?

No ... I figured they would already have lots of great pics of it over there.

[Fidelio]

Just imagine if this had happened at Xmastime. Yikes.

Those of us old enough to remember "The Christmas Comet" aka "Comet of the Century" Kohoutek recall glassy eyed fundies passing out tracts gleefully welcoming the end of the world... (snork) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohoutek

And on topic, I saw it last night with my ancient Celestron 8 and it was the most non comet looking comet I have ever seen.

[Michelle]

And on topic, I saw it last night with my ancient Celestron 8 and it was the most non comet looking comet I have ever seen.
No kidding uh? No tail, nothing. Just an expanding cloud of gas that is now wider than Jupiter...

[Soapy Sam]

Been raining here all week. :mad:

[Diagoras]

I've got it even worse. It's started to snow here. :(

[alfaniner]

Much easier to see tonight!!! I thought it would have faded by now, but on a whim I checked the star I thought was it a few nights ago. Now it is obviously fuzzy in the binoculars. It literally took my breath away.

My first real comet sighting. Cooollll!!!!

[Soapy Sam]

STILL bloody raining!