Topic: OT-Comet viewed head on! go see it asap

[Starforce2]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10775326.html

You can see it with your eyes, and a simple pair of bino's will tell you which isn't a star if you're not able to tell (doubt you can unless you got super vision or something) but have a look if you get the chance.

[Red_Green]

Awesome and thanks for pointing this out. I probably would have missed it otherwise. I just checked it out and its pretty amazing. THis object is normally magnitude 17 and I read it is currently around magnitude 2.8  The lower the mag the brighter. Just to give an idea, the average person can see stars as bright as mag 6 with anything higher needing a telesope (of course thats out in the country where there isn't much light pollution).

This baby can be seen in a major city. I used to observe varible stars in my younger days, talking a couple decades ago (currently going thru mid-life crisis, but I digress) I mean I would catalog stars that changed from mag 9.6 to mag 9.2 or something but for an object to go from mag 17 to mag 2 is probably once in a lifetime.

I broke out the old Edmund Scientific Astroscan (which survived an auto accident unscathed that totaled my car) Its not about magnification, its all about field of view. Anyway right now the comet appears like a diffuse circle of light, sort of like a fuzzy cotton ball in space. That site said this happened in the late 1800's to the same object. It flared up then died down and then flared again 2 and 1/2 months later so this could be interesting to keep an eye on.

[Red_Green]

Comet Holmes is still visible to the naked eye at about the same brightness. It is less compact now as the dust particles have expanded out making the sphere larger. Though is total brightness is about the same, its surface brightness is less because its less dense.

So pry yourself away from your video game/computer/TV long enough to check it out. Truly once in a lifetime.

[Fedman NCC-3758]

Neat.

Look to the east. Find the Pleiades (Seven sisters) .... look to the left in a straight line.