Comet Holmes gets very big!
Check this out:
To the right is object we are all quite familiar with, the sun. To the left, is Comet Holmes that’s been in the news of late. Now, this is where it gets real weird to me. This is a true-scale comparison! Comet Holmes right now is bigger than the Sun. Now, it doesn’t have the mass or energy the sun has, but I can’t recall seeing a comet nearly this big ever.
I might finally be motivated to try to see this thing with something a little more pwerful than my naked eye. This is very cool!
Tags: comet, holmes, Sun, The Solar System
Last week I got the binoculars out to attempt to find the comet. Knowing approximately where to look I was quite surprised when I actually found it. Unfortunately there is too much light pollution where I live so I cant get a real naked eye view.
I stumbled on a piece of property for a great price a couple of years ago. My initial instinct was to sell it for a profit. However, Mrs. Moon mentioned building a house on it. One of my first thoughts was how well I could see the stars there. We’re about five miles from town, the sky usually is almost totally free of light pollution. Now, I love being this far out.
I am pretty certain I’ve seen it with my naked eyes a few times. It’s pretty bright and shows up where I’m pretty certain nothing should have been ( not that bright anyway ). It looks about like Venus or Jupiter normally would, but not where they should be. I had a pretty good telescpe, but Moonlet damaged it about a year ago. This is one of the few times I’ve missed it. I’ve gazed at the planets a lot many years ago. It’s not often something new pops up like Holmes.
The comet is crazy big now.I have been watching it from down town Laconia,NH ever since it had it’s outburst on October 25th..(actually,the out burst was on the 24th)and have been amazed at how large it has become.On the 25th,I was able to image it as a whole with my Meade DSI and was able to fit the complete comet on my laptop screen.Now however,I can only get the comet nucleus and a small portion of the coma to fit on screen.I have to use my DSLR to get the complete image.At the rate of expansion I suspect that within a couple weeks,I won’t be able to get the complete image even with my DSLR
.
Andrew
Most excellent shots Andrew! Very cool. Wish I had the opportunity to do the same.
Thank you for the kind words.I’m thinking that I may end up piggy backing my DSLR on my scope in order to get the whole comet in a single shot?!.If you have a camera,why not give it a try?!.The comet can be captured with quite a short exposure time.
Actually, I have a digital camera. However, I’m gonna bet it’s not the same quality ( Sureshot ). Right now we’re in the midst of a wave of rain/snow/storms in general. I haven’t seen the sky in several days. And, quite frankly, my talents with a camera I’m sure are no match for what you’ve done. I actually have a digital capture lens for my telescope, but it needs to be fixed. This is probably the motivation I need to do it.