Coma of Holmes Comet Becomes Bigger than the Sun

[Datura]

I'd love to see what it looks like through a telescope.

That would be fun I wonder if you can see the starting tail -- well, only one way to find out

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

That would be fun I wonder if you can see the starting tail -- well, only one way to find out

Yup. Borrow Dan's telescope.

[akritic]

I couldn't see no trail.. Jesus it's heading towards us!! RUN! no wait, it'll take millions of years to get here. phew...

[Dan Schulz]

Yup. Borrow Dan's telescope.

Too bad mine's locked away in a storage shed.

I couldn't see no trail.. Jesus it's heading towards us!! RUN! no wait, it'll take millions of years to get here. phew...

IIRC its orbit doesn't even come close to Mars itself, so I doubt that'll be a problem.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

Too bad mine's locked away in a storage shed.

Well go get it then.

[Young Twig]

I went on my balcony to look for the comet but found snow instead. I think that's cooler.

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

I SAW IT !!

Completely by accident too. I was walking home along my street (it's night-time here) and just randomly looking around at stars and stuff, and then I was like... "hmm... that star's really big... And what's that cloud around it ??... HOLY SH*T !!"

It was amazing looking!!

I saw the classic comet shape too... as my eyes adjusted I could see the triangular-ish trail and everything with a faint blue hue.

I called my sister to look at it too.

By the time I got home and got my camera out it had all but dis-appeared, though. I don't know if it changed direction or whatever but now when I look up I just see a large, "moon-sized", very faint blurry cloud instead of the sharp star with a trail.

I'm going to look out for it tomorrow.

It was gorgeous. I'm so sorry I have no pictures to show you guys.

[r937]

shaun, what a great story

it's so nice when somebody gets excited about space and stuff!

have you ever seen the space station? couple months ago i was fortunate to see both the space station and the shuttle at the same time (they were in the same orbit, just after separation)

check your space station viewing times here -- Port of Spain

oops, there aren't any at the moment, but bookmark that link and go back regularly

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

have you ever seen the space station? couple months ago i was fortunate to see both the space station and the shuttle at the same time (they were in the same orbit, just after separation)

What did it look like??

More than just a small white dot ??

[r937]

a very bright small dot, as bright as venus, moving at a steady pace across the sky, taking 4 or 5 minutes to cross the sky if going overhead

by the way, keep checking your link, i see that there is now one sighting listed for you, on Sun Dec 23 at 6:53 PM 3

[Shaun(OfTheDead)]

a very bright small dot, as bright as venus, moving at a steady pace across the sky, taking 4 or 5 minutes to cross the sky if going overhead

That sounds really... well... boring.

[Tailslide]

Maybe I'm just easily impressed but it always gives me goosebumps to see the ISS go past (basically just a bright dot). I even like seeing satellites.

[Tom H]

It's quite interesting this comet holmes, I must admit. I've been monitoring it from the start, well, the start of this periodic time interval, and in < 40 hours or so it went so bright in orders of magnitude it was quite a phenomena. One of the largest comet outbursts I've heard of, and I've heard of a few. The diameter is greater than the sun, yes, but the mass, is only tiny in our solar system standards. It is for sure, a once in a lifetime event, the next epoch for the thing will be in many years. Nice post, I enjoyed reading this.

[Hostpitable]

I don't want to sound alarmist but it will kill us all

[operator]

Cool. I'll take a look for this when I return to Canada in a week. Will it still be viewable?

[r937]

Cool. I'll take a look for this when I return to Canada in a week. Will it still be viewable?

probably

i recommend binoculars though