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View Full Version : Comet Holmes now bigger than the sun....



Hardrock69
11-13-2007, 08:34 AM
They need to start calling it by it's real name...Comet Johnny Wadd.
:D

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/holmes.html

Formerly, the Sun was the largest object in the Solar System. Now, comet 17P/Holmes holds that distinction.

Spectacular outbursting comet 17P/Holmes exploded in size and brightness on October 24. It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the Solar system, being bigger than the Sun (see Figure). The diameter of the tenuous dust atmosphere of the comet was measured at 1.4 million kilometers (0.9 million miles) on 2007 November 9 by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. They used observations from a wide-field camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), one of the few professional instruments still capable of capturing the whole comet in one image. Other astronomers involved in the UH program to study the comet include Bin Yang, Nuno Peixinho and David Jewitt. The present eruption of comet Holmes was first reported on October 24 and has continued at a steady 0.5 km/sec (1100 mph) ever since. The comet is an unprecedented half a million times brighter than before the eruption began. This amazing eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid nucleus made of ice and rock, only 3.6 km (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter.

http://i4.tinypic.com/73bqryx.jpg


Here is a map and instructions, detailing where you can see this cosmic jism:

Finding Comet Holmes: First locate the easy-to-spot W of Cassiopeia. Draw an imaginary line from the star Gamma Cass down to Ruchbah, then extend the line downward about five times as far, and you'll be near Holmes. Note the triangle formed by Holmes and the bright stars Mirfak and Delta Persei. Sky shown mid-evening from mid-northern latitudes.
http://i15.tinypic.com/7wacpra.jpg

DeadOrAlive
11-13-2007, 07:11 PM
Astronomy has always been my mojo. I find this shit to be pretty interesting. Nice find Hardrock.

Dave's PA Rental
11-13-2007, 07:58 PM
I looked at this two weeks ago through my 8" Dobsonian...my first comet...easy to spot with the nake eye...

Hardrock69
11-13-2007, 08:19 PM
I wanted to check it out tonight, but it is cloudy around here.

Not like it is going to disappear overnight lol.

Nitro Express
11-13-2007, 10:16 PM
Comet Holmes? Sounds like the name of a black musician. LOL! Kind of like Lightning Hopkins. :D

Was Comet in George Clinton's band? LOL!

Hardrock69
11-14-2007, 01:11 AM
LMFAO!

No shit!

:D