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Comet Hunting

Comet Holmes Experiences Millionfold Explosion of Light



Astronomy is one of those sciences that anyone can really get a hang of. Not to say that those who study it aren't far and above us in terms of understanding, but unlike physics or chemistry, it isn't reliant on unfathomable precepts. All you need is a decent dictionary (Wikipedia for preference) and some time to read.

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When the comet Holmes underwent an explosion of light recently, it came as a surprise to many. But, all of the information presented in the articles sent me running back to the net to understand what was going on. So, I've broken it down, so that there won't be any encyclopedia runs during this article. Comet 17P/Holmes is a periodic comet, meaning that it has an orbit period of less than 200 years in our solar system. It was discovered by Edwin Holmes on November the 6th, 1892. It wasn't necessarily a spectacular comet. Its magnitude was only 18; magnitude being the brightness at which we can see it. A magnitude of 18 puts it just underneath the 19 classification; "general limiting photographic brightness# - of comets with a 50-cm-aperture reflector" According to IAU Circular 8886, issued today by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams in Cambridge, Massachusetts, A. Henriquez Santana at Tenerife, Canary Islands, was the first to notice the outburst shortly after local midnight on Wednesday morning, October the 24th. At this point of discovery the comet was at a magnitude of 8, but moments later Ramon Naves and colleagues in Barcelona, Spain spotted the comet and its magnitude had dropped further to 7.3. At magnitude 8, it is described as; "binocular objects; from urban areas, such objects may only be visible with small telescopes." A further description of this level of brightness puts it in line with the planet Neptune. Seiichi Yoshida, who observed the comet from beside the Tsurumi River in Yokohama, continued the reporting. On the internet forums he commented that "It is visible with naked eyes in a large city!" and that 17:15 Universal Time he was describing Comet Holmes as magnitude 2.8. A magnitude of 2 is simply naked eye brightness, like the big dipper or Halley's Comet in its 1986 peak. It is "Difficult but visible from small cities and suburbs; diffuse objects such as comets may require small binoculars from urban areas." In fact, it is so bright now--increasing in magnitude a millionfold from its original level a few days ago--that it now appears as part of the Perseus constellation. For those wanting the coordinates, its position on October 25th (0h UT) is right ascension 3h 53m, declination +50.1 (equinox 2000), and by October 30th it will have moved only to 3h 48m, +50.4. This is one of those moments for amateur astronomers to get their telescopes out and go comet hunting. Make sure, if you're only a little bit interested, that you are out there tonight with your own telescope, hunting for Holmes! Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.


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Guest Column Joshua Hill -- Bio and Archives

Items of notes and interest from the web.


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