Comet Holmes
Periodic Comet Holmes underwent a spectacular eruption in
October which increased its brightness a million fold. The normally faint comet suddenly became a bright
naked-eye object. The comet is about 11
arc minutes in diameter (third the size of the full moon) with a star-like
nucleus. There is little evidence of a
tail because, from the earth’s perspective, it would be almost directly behind
the head of the comet. At the
beginning of November it was 240 million kilometers from the Earth and receding
away from us. This means that it will
now be fading.
Unfortunately for us in the Southern hemisphere the
comet is in the far north in the constellation of Perseus. At best it will be seen just above the
horizon when due north (see finder chart).
The comet will be due north at about 2pm at the beginning of November and at midnight by the month’s end. By mid-December in will be due north at 11pm, 10pm by the month’s end.
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