[BAA 00314] Comet 17P/Holmes

[Rick]

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

[Rick]

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!

[JohnP]

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

[Rick]

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.

[doug]

     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.