BAA electronic bulletin No. 00314 http://www.britastro.org/
Comet 17P/Holmes is an amazing sight, showing several well-delineated concentric comae of decreasing brightness. It is likely to remain a prominent object for some time, and being circumpolar is visible all night. The coma diameter will probably continue to expand, and is already roughly a million kilometres across. Further outbursts may occur.
I am receiving so many emails that it is impossible to respond to them all. Where possible please submit magnitude estimates using the standard ICQ/BAA format as given in the BAA Observing Guide to Comets or on the Section web page at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds, with descriptive text as appropriate. In particular could I ask for all images to be submitted using the standard naming convention, for example 17p_20071028_observer.jpg Anything else, for example providing a url, or comet.jpg adds considerably to the time needed to archive your observation and this may therefore not happen.
Jonathan Shanklin, Comet Section Director
Get out there and take a look! It's well-placed to the east, and even with the Moon below it's still easy to see! :)
Wow! really weird looking - seen lots of pictures on various forums but you don't really appreciate it until you see it through bino's or wide FOV eyepiece. It's big & perfectly circular... bright central core & there a large outer coma - no sign of any tail...
I must try & image this before it dims... Makes you think what has happened to cause it to brighten so much....
Totally weird..
John
Yeah. Really unusual, and it does seem to be changing quite fast too, so it might be something to try to make a movie of.
I was told it was visible under Casseiopeia (I`m not sure that is spelt correctly) and when I looked; lo and behold, a wondrous sight. Amazing. Through the binoculars or naked eye view, it`s still pretty good. I migh try and take a pix of it through my tiny digicam through the telescope if the weather allows.
Being new to this, I trust the comet IS the one you are all talking about, and not something else.