Comet P17 Holmes

It's been a little while since I have had my telescope out. It was comforting to be out tonight among the stars again with a tool well suited for exploring the night sky. The Winnipeg RASC email list has been a buzz for a couple of days like I've never seen it before.

A comet that increases in brightness about 400,000 times in 24 hours is kind of cool. There are a number of oddities surrounding the unpredictable nature of Comet 17P Holmes, but the most obvious to me is that there is almost no tail to this comet. It's heading away from us apparently. I can't say that the thought hasn't crossed my mind that we are on course for a deep impact and that it's headed directly for us. I wish these things didn't occur to me just before bed! I have a rich inner life.

The astrophoto crew seem to be having some difficulty capturing the visual appearance accurately in an image. Some of the local crew are saying that it looks like a super nova.

Boo was home tonight so I had company to ooh and ahhh over it. If it's clear tomorrow, I'm open to entertaining others at the eyepiece. :)
Cheers!