An Astronomy Alert!

There is a weird anomaly currently visible in the heavens. It would be visible here were it not for the consistent cloud cover. Comet 17P/Holmes, normally a 17th magnitude object, that is, visible only in the largest astronomical instruments, suddenly brightened to magnitude 2.5 in the constellation Perseus this past week. This means that this once obscure comet is now the third brightest object in the constellation, and visible to the naked eye! (Magnitude 6.0 is the usual limitation for naked eye visibility.) So, if your skies are clear, get out and take a look!

Here is a link to the information on the Sky and Telescope website. Good luck and good viewing!
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CR Meyer said…
Wow, the skies were cloudy just an hour ago, but now they have cleared and BAM!, there is Comet Holmes, even with a fairly bright waning gibbous Moon not too far away. I picked up some 10 power binoculars and the comet was a bright, nebulous cloud in Perseus. Man, if you own a pair of binoculars, you MUST take a look!

I'll have to get the scope set up for later, when the comet should be visible from our terrace.
Sun Oct 28, 07:50:00 PM GMT+1
CR Meyer said…
The view through the telescope is INCREDIBLE...it is the brightest comet I have seen since Hale-Bopp. McNaught last January was bright, but a bit lost in the twilight glow here in Europe.
Sun Oct 28, 09:14:00 PM GMT+1
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