Thread: Comet 17P/Holmes

We were at Perdernales Falls this past weekend and I stayed up to star gaze. In San Antonio, you just can't see the stars well at all. I saw several small shooting stars, but then there was one, on Friday night, it was a golden burst like a bottle rocket, with a tail. Do you think this could be that comet? I was surprised to see any shooting stars at all, but that big one caused me to stay up late again on Saturday. I'm still recovering from lack of sleep.

I don't think so. I've not seen the comet for myself (San Antonio is definitely not a dark sky viewing locale), but reports say the comet has no tail, and it began brightening between October 23–24, 2007, not in the past several days.

Here's a (public domain, so I'm permitted to copy it here) chart showing where the comet is:

Source: Image:Comet Holmes TLR1.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's another view that may aid in locating it in the sky:


Source: Image:Comet Holmes sky Oct 30 2007.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've taken a few looks at it from my driveway, but at the just-concluded Deep South Regional Star Gaze (Deep South Regional Star Gaze) I viewed it in its full glory. Right now, it reminds me very much of a illuminated frosted light bulb, except for the non-circular shape of the trailing edge. There was an apparent elongation of the nucleus a few days ago, and it's still visible to a degree. The shape is something akin to a half-circle and half-square put together, with the square side being slightly blurred, if that makes sense. There's currently no more tail than that, but it's definitely there.

As to seeing the comet from a dark sky, it helps but it's not necessary. Folks are seeing it from New Orleans' street corners, if that's any indication. To the unaided eye, it's a slightly fuzzy star in Perseus. In (even) binoculars, it's glorious. :thumbsup:

Just take a look at the NE sky a couple of hours or so after dark. If your NE horizon is reasonably low, you can look for the distinctive "inverted pentagon" of the constellation Auriga, then move up about 20 degrees or so from the brightest star in the pentagon, Capella. 20 degrees is roughly the distance from the tip of your thumb to little finger with an outstretched hand at arm's length. Take a look at the chart Shannon posted to see what I mean. I don't know what the scale at the bottom of the chart indicates, though. It's in the NE sky, which is between 0 and 90 degrees azimuth... ? Also, at this time of the year, the bowl of the Big Dipper is mostly below the treeline from the southern US.

Originally Posted by Troop198

Thanks, how long will it be around? This weekend there is a leonids meteor shower , if sky is clear will all be viewable? But at different times?

StarDate Online | 2007 Meteor Showers and Viewing Tips

Although I replied privately to a related PM, I'll repeat the content here in case it will help anyone else.

The comet will be visible pretty much all night. While meteors can be observed all night as well (even specific showers such as the Leonids), they're generally better after midnight. This is because the geometry of the the Earth's orbit around the Sun places your location "into the meteoric wind", so to speak, after midnight. Therefore, the rate goes up.