[Chaos-l] Comet Holmes flares up?

[Peter Smith]

Hello everyone,
I picked up on the recent emails about comet Holmes while I was here  
in Arizona on vacation. I have my small 3 inch refractor with me,  
having heard how great the skies are here and hoping to see some good  
stuff despite the full moon. Seems like I got lucky!

This will be brief because I'm typing one-fingered on my phone, but I  
though you guys should know that this comet is real, and it is a  
fantastic object even in such a small scope. Naked eye looks like a  
new star in Persius. It.was easy to locate using the finder chart on  
Spaceweather. Com.

Even in binocs you can see it is not a star. At modest power you can  
see a clear halo around a large central nucleus. It looks just like  
the pics on the web. Its position means it is visible for most of the  
night. Despite the severe washout caused by the full moon, it is a  
fantastic sight.

I hope the skies clear for you all soon ( though I know we need the  
rain). Holmes looks like it will be around for a while. Perhaps even  
develop a tail.

Peter

Sent from my phone

On Oct 24, 2007, at 8:27 PM, Kumar Pandya <eklf at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> I was on cloudy nights right now when a fellow CNer
> announced that Comet Holmes has suddenly flared up
>
> "Comet Holmes has exploded as something definately HIT
> this sucker. It has gone from mag 17 to 2.5 in a few
> hours. It's stellar to the naked eye but increadble in
> a scope. It's 80 % between Mirfak and Capella."
>
> Its too cloudy around here to look, but I am passing
> out the word for those who might be able to
> sneak-a-peek.
>
> Its also with a little sense trepidation that I post
> this, hoping that this is not a joke.
> Kumar
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