Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

You don't need binoculars, it's as bright as the stars in the big 
dipper, at least it was last night.
We didn't pull out the scope, but a friend of ours did, and he said he 
could see a bright nucleus off center in the fuzzy yellow ball.
This is not your ordinary comet.  Most comets are on an elliptical path 
and they start offgassing as they heat up on their orbit around the sun. 
 The closer they get to the sun, the hotter they get, the more they 
offgas, and the larger the tail.  17P Holmes, however, is on its way 
out-away from the sun, somewhere between Mars and Jupiter, and then, 
literally out of nowhere, it brightened.  The only explanation is that 
it was hit by something, like another chunk of rock and that impact has 
caused the brightening.  Its pretty cool to look at it and think about that.
It's in the constellation of Perseus, whose brighest stars kinda look 
like the Greek letter Lambda, or an upside down Y.  For those in the 
Northern Hemisphere, mid latitudes, Perseus is directly overhead at 
around 2AM, and off to the east of straight up before that.  Face North 
and look up. You could probably see it pretty well around 10 or 11 
tonight.  Mirfak is the star in Perseus where the two lines of the 
lambda join.  Further off to the east, you should see the bright star 
Capella.  You can't miss Capella, it's the brightest thing in the 
Eastern sky.  In between Mirfak and Capella, closer to Mirfak and about 
the same brightness, is 17P Holmes.  While out there, enjoy the great 
square of Pegasus, the Andromeda galaxy, and Cassiopeia. Happy hunting!

Bev
P.S. If anyone needs more help finding anything in the sky, let me know...

Marie McHarry wrote:
> This comet will be most visisble for the next couple of days:
>
> http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10775326.html or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2x68be
>
> I'm told it's visible to the naked eye if you have good eyesight, and
> quite visible with just binoculars.
>
> Marie
> _______________________________________________
> Homestead list and subscription:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
> Change your homestead list member options:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/erthnsky%40bellsouth.net
> View the archives at:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead

--
Bevanron of EarthNSky Farm   Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the 
ocean's depths, MY son is protecting YOUR freedom.