Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Look at the sky, it's in the northeast getting brighter and bigger by the minute.

What the fuck is this?

I posted this on another forum the other day:

Breaking news: sudden naked eye comet

 

Posted on October 24th, 2007 at 2:32 PM in Astronomy, Cool stuff |

BABloggee Dan Fischer emailed me to say that comet 17P/Holmes has brightened incredibly, from magnitude 17 to magnitude 3 literally overnight. That?s a brightening of a factor of 400,000!

It?s incredible, and it appears to be legit (see also here (http://cometography.com/pcomets/017p.html)). The comet is in the constellation Perseus, and is about 4 degrees from the bright star Mirfak.

(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/comet_holmes.jpg)


I will go out and check this tonight for sure! To see for yourself, first, be in the northern hemisphere.  Then around 8:00 local time face northeast. See the big W on its side, facing left? That?s Cassiopeia. Below is the star Mirfak (if you keep looking lower, near the horizon, you?ll see the far brighter yellow star Capella). The comet is just below and to the left of Mirfak, and the star is about 3 or 4 times brighter than the comet is supposed to be ? unless the comet gets even brighter or fades away. The comet should be easily visible and fuzzy-looking in binoculars.

You can find online sky maps at Your Sky (http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/) and Heavens Above (http://www.heavens-above.com/) that can help you.

Sometimes comets can brighten a lot if they break up a bit when they are near the Sun, exposing previously buried reservoirs of ice which then sublimate and are lit up by the Sun. If this is what happened, we need as many observations of it as possible to nail down the brightness. Given that Comet Holmes is over 220 million miles from the Sun and 150 million miles from the Earth, this is very impressive indeed.

From BA's Blog (http://www.badastronomy.com/)

Another post I did on the same forum is about another comet that is visible right now:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
We could be in for a real treat towards the end of the month. LONEOS (C/2007 F1) reaches perihelion near the end of Oct. It is thought that the comet will reach 4th mag., in which case, it will be nearly as bright as Schwassnann-Watchman 3(the cool one last summer)

LONEOS is a very long period comet. Some models predict this is the first time this comet has been in the inner Solar System in 42 thousand years; others show a first time visit. In either case, this thing has not undergone very much sublimation. So, it could be a good one.

Last Dec. predictions for C2006P1 McNaught, put that comet around mag 6; it ultimately reached -14 in early Jan., and it was so bright it could be seen in daylight. Truly a spectacular sight. Though, I don't think LONEOS will get that bright, but you never know.
 

I'll post some updates and charts later.
 

UPDATE:

BRIGHTENING COMET: Comet LONEOS (C/2007 F1) is brightening. "Last night I saw it with the naked eye," reports Martin McKenna of Maghera, Co. Derry, N. Ireland. It wasn't very bright--"just 6th magnitude"--but definitely there.? "The comet sported a beautiful green coma with a blue ion tail."

Tonight, Oct. 17th, is a good night to find Comet LONEOS as it glides by the 3rd magnitude star Muphrid in the constellation Bootes. Let Muphrid be your guide! The time to look is immediately after sundown. LONEOS is near the horizon and sets not long after darkness falls:

(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/Tibor-Horvath1_strip.jpg)

Above: Comet LONEOS on Oct. 16th, a one-minute exposure through a 4-inch refracting telescope. Credit: Tibor Horvath of Hegyhatsal, Hungary.

Comet LONEOS is brightening because it is falling toward the sun. At closest approach on Oct. 29th it will be just outside the orbit of Mercury. How bright will LONEOS become? Experts estimate 4th magnitude--not a Great Comet but still a nice target for backyard telescopes. Stay tuned for updates!

From SpaceWeather.com (http://spaceweather.com/)


FINDER CHART: The position of Jupiter is approximate, but it should be pretty close. It is the bright "star" on the western horizon.

(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/chart1.gif)


More later

It has been fucking raining and overcast ever since this thing went from mag 17 to mag 2.5 so I still haven not been able to see it yet. As it is still a good distance from perihelion, it should be visible for a while ... I hope.

It looks like a normal star with the naked eye, but with binoculars...intresting!

I wonder why there are no Huble pictures of it yet?

Hubble is booked months in advance and is not really suitable for solar system research. It is more of a wide field telescope. Most people prefer "slow" telescopes for planetary work.

These are a couple of images taken with a 14in Smitt/Cass that I lifted from Spaceweather.com (http://spaceweather.com/). It is getting asymmetric so hopefully it will develope a nice tail.

(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/Eduardo-Hernandez_strip.jpg)

If it does not develop a tail...well, better not think about that.

This is a photo of the Great Comet of January:
(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/C2006P1McNaughtCrause2.jpg)

It started off the much the same way as 17/P Holmes; no one expected it to get very bright, but then it "blew up". For this thing to be in Perseus, it is still a long way from it's closest approach to the Sun. We could be in for a real treat.

will it be able to be viewed  tonight?

Yes, click one of the links above for more information.

awesome, thanks : ok:

i'll have to break out my telescope for this :D

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1045.htm

More pictures here:

http://www.danlessmann.com/AstroPages/CometHolmes17P.htm



That thing is not exploding, it has just begun to reproduce itself.

Two cores now, each one being as big as the original. And as bright.

With binoculars, this isn't that funny to watch anymore.

I'm afraid this could be a bit more than just another comet.

Nope, That is all it is. This is a comet that has been known about for a long time. Schwamann-Wachmann 3 broke up into over 40 fragments last summer.

I hope its only a comet.

But how come the second piece is as big and as bright as the original?

Also, look at these pictures:

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17788&posts=37

Outgassing and sublimation as a result of the fresh surfaces being exposed.

I'll see if I can find a pic of 73/P from last summer showing the many fragments.

As opposed to what else?

I don't know, that's why I'm curious. What else could it be?

well if he means an astroid don't worry, the last i heard an astroid won't come close to earth until the early 2030s. If we're still here by then.....


those pictures are pretty cool. I tried looking towards teh north east like it said but i didn't have any luck, i think its because theres a full moon where i am :-\ not sure though wish i could have seen it for myself.

The C component of 73/P passing the Ring Nebula M57. Notice the barred spiral galaxy IC 1296 about have way between M57 and 73/P.
(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/Schedler_S-W_640.jpg)

B and C components of 73/P
(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/Rhemann-JagerS-W300-1.jpg)

But where are the pieces of whatever matter the components are of coming from then? After the splitting in two or three pieces, shouldn't the thing be fading? But the core doesn't seem to have lost size or energy at all. I'm not a astronomy expert but from physics aspects this thing behaves quite irrational.

It is easiest to spot in binocs first. Anyway, find the Moon, then hold your arm out extended and make a fist - there is a bright star a little over two fist widths to the left of the Moon. That is Capella, no go about two fist widths up ... viola! there you go.

The fist extended at arms length subtends about 10 degrees of the sky. Your finger at that length subtends about 2 degrees. The Moon is 0.5 degree, or about 1/4 the width of your finger. Good Luck.

It is doing what comets do. The nucleus is surrounded by the coma(gas and dust). As comets approach the Sun, heat and radiation cause the volatile elements to sublimate and outgas. Comets are basically big frozen balls of ice the size of mountains. Gravity pulls on one side more than the other and that is why they split up.

It will be intresting to see what the comet will be doing next, it's supposed to be between mars and jupiter right now, moving away from the sun, away from us then too. But I am afraid if it splits into more pieces that some of these might leave that path and head the other direction.

That would impossible without some other force acting on it. Comets are in orbit just like everything else.

haha yeah, now that would be irrational from an aspect of physics.

Here (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=Holmes&orb=1) is a link to a 3D orbital diagram of 17/P Holmes you can play with:

Calm down  mate :beer:
Just take it from fucking crazy he knows his shit, clearly!

that worked i think i saw it :D

if its there tomorrow i'll have to try to find my telescope : ok:

It will be there for a while.

What kind of scope do you have? I have several everything from apos and achros to maks and newts

its nothin special i got it a long time ago from when Marobrill offered its smokers points per pack they smoke so i got it from there i think its a buchnell :-\ something like that......


EDIT:
found it in my closet, its a Bushnell Deep space serise 420x if that means anything

:peace:

I have seen reports of this, but I just spent about a half an hour observing it with an 80mm apo at 84x (F6.8 with a 13mm Nag.6 Barlowed) and I could only detect one nucleus. There was however, an extremely bright spot on the eastern side near the nucleus. I don't know if this was a background star shining through the coma, or if it was an intense area of outgassing. My big scope is at my observing site. I might drive down tomorrow.

True enough, but that was inbetween the lines :)

Only if you leave out the "anti" part.  ;)

If this is a sign as written in the prophecies I would not fear the comet but the people reaction to it. The destruction from the people could be worse than what any comet could do to this planet.

Coincidence with prophecy or not, the language is harder and sharper now in the politics. From "reminds me of Cuba Crisis" (Putin) to "World War 3" (Bush), the economic situation and all the insecureness from and in Europe to actual conflicts in the middle east. We have never been closer to fulfilling the end time prophecies than now. It's not only indicators or foreshadows, it's facts already for everyone to see.

Of course one should not read to much into things, but it is said that the sign will be for everyone to see. That is if you want to see. Comet or not, I think we are pretty fucked and heading towards a catastrophe.

Mark of the beast?

(http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r267/polluxlm/rfid_chip.jpg)

May 2008

(http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r267/polluxlm/natlidcd.jpg)



Oh it's coming baby.

Not sure if this comet got anything to do with it though...

The "split" everyone is talking about turned out to  be the stars GSC0333400738 (magnitude 10.9) and GSC0333400788 (magnitude 8.7) shining through the coma.

It has popped out of its orbit...

(http://www.arksky.org/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=d89504fa52b3190959a5a0f4abeb8875&action=dlattach;topic=1437.0;id=75;image)


...rotating...

(http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/comet/holmes_500s_pc_1027.jpg)
(http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/comet/holmes_41m_pc_1029.jpg)


...and now coming our way, with the "gas cloud" actually being behind it.

In english: the cloud is the tail and that fucker is coming our direction!

(http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/7791/h1tr1.png)


Our little friend compared to the moon on Oct 28.

(http://spaceweather.com/comets/holmes/28oct07/Dave-Eagle1.jpg)



The cloud was four times the size of Jupiter on Oct. 29. It is still growing.

How do you know that it is not the Earth that has "popped" out of it's orbit?  :nervous:

Seriously, that comet will get nowhere near the Earth. While it has "grown" immensely, It is over 1.5 AU from Earth, and receding. Any force applied to the thing in an amount large enough to alter its orbit in any significant amount, would destroy the thing. Quit stressing over nothing.

I probably shouldn't even "clue" you in, but ... Nah, I better not.

It is developing an ion tail ... the blue area to the right.

(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/Sebastian-Voltmer2_strip.jpg)

^^^^Honestly thanks for all your good info.

C17/P Holmes is now the largest object in the Solar system:


GIANT COMET: "Formerly, the sun was the largest object in the Solar System," says University of Hawaii astronomer David Jewett. "Now, Comet 17P/Holmes holds that distinction." On Nov. 9th, a team of Hawaii astronomers led by Rachel Stevenson measured the diameter of the comet's expanding debris cloud: 1.4 million kilometers, slightly larger than the sun itself.

(http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb259/soliussymbiosus/holmes_jewitt_071109_strip.jpg)

This composite image prepared by Jewett shows a Nov. 9th photo of the comet beside the sun and Saturn for scale. To photograph the comet, Stevenson et al used the 3.6 meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope atop Mauna Kea, "one of the few professional instruments still capable of capturing the whole comet in one image," notes Jewett.

From SpaceWeather.com (http://spaceweather.com/)

What are the chances of this thing either hitting us or causing any type of gravitational interferance with the orbit of the Earth??

None. It's size is large, but the density of it's coma is next to nothing. There is a link to a page with an applet on the other page that demonstrates the orbit of the comet. This thing orbits between Jupiter and Mars. So, there is no chance of it hitting the Earth.