17P/Holmes is growing

[mickw]

"A comet that has delighted backyard astronomers in recent weeks after an unexpected eruption has now grown larger than the sun"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20071115/sc_space/incrediblecometbiggerthanthesun

Do you think it will warm up Tuesnoad ?   

Mick

[Rick]

"A comet that has delighted backyard astronomers in recent weeks after an unexpected eruption has now grown larger than the sun"

Yeah, that one's been doing the rounds today. I think some journalist or PR person with a slim grasp of the facts and a vivid imagination got loose.

Some of the pictures are pretty cool though.

[Mike]

No.. Mick.. It REALLY is larger than the sun !

http://www.space.com/

[Rick]

It's a very tenuous cloud of dust that happens to have spread out enough to fill a volume larger than the Sun's, but that dust cloud isn't anything more than a puff of smoke, so the comparison doesn't really mean anything, and there are plenty of comets that've been bigger. If you're going to measure things that way you might say the asteroid belt is the largest 'object' in the Solar system...

[mickw]

So it will be warm at DSC ?

If I say it often enough it might be true 

Mick

[Carole]

Talking about warmth at DSC.  Will we definitely be having a bonfire 'cos if we're not, then I don't think I'll be coming unless the weather warms up.

Carole

[Mike]

Carole,

We will most definately be having a bonfire (unless it rains of course). We already have a load of firewood we left in the pig pen the last time we went and I believe Paul is bringing some more along this time too. If the recent weather is anything to go by our record of -5 Degrees C is going to be broken !!!

[Rick]

The Web is abuzz about Comet Holmes.

Comet 17P/Holmes had been expected to make just another routine ultra low visibility departure from perihelion passage this year. But in a record for a comet, it unexpectedly brightened by a factor of around a million on October 24, making it more reminiscent of a stellar nova explosion.

A retrospective:  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/18/comet_holmes/