The Evanescent Outburst(s)
The Evanescent Outburst(s)
Of Comet 17/P Holmes
The Evanescent Outburst(s)
Of Comet 17/P Holmes
History
•
On November 6th, 1892 a British Amateur Astronomer, Edwin Holmes was doing some
observing.
•
Mr. Holmes (London, England) was a regular observer of the Andromeda galaxy (M31), so
he knew the region very well.
•
With skies that were not very favorable, he finished making a few observations of Jupiter
and some double stars with his 32-cm reflector, and then decided to take a quick look at
the faint companions of Mu Andromedae and the nearby galaxy M31 before quitting for the
night.
•
Upon turning the reflector toward that region, he saw what he thought was M31 enter the
field of the finder, but when he looked through the eyepiece he saw something different.
•
Holmes said he "called out involuntarily, 'What is the matter? There is something strange
here.'
•
My wife heard me and thought something had happened to the instrument and came to
see."
History
•
The object in the field of Holmes' telescope was a comet with a coma about
5 arc minutes across and with a bright nucleus. The date was then
November 6.98.
•
Holmes was able to determine a rough position on November 7.03, before
clouds moved in.
•
He immediately wrote to E. W. Maunder (Royal Observatory, Greenwich,
England), W. H. Maw (England), and Kidd (Bramley, England) with the
following telegram describing his discovery…
On Sunday night, Nov. 6th at 11:45, I found a new
comet in Andromeda. It was bright enough to be visible in
an opera glass through the haze prevailing. Nucleus
bright, with surrounding nebulosity 5' in diameter. No
tail visible. I made the position 0h 46.8m + 38deg 32'
exactly 1m 10s preceding Sigma 72. My surroundings
prevented me from watching for any motion. I think it
must have approached rapidly, for I observed that region
on Oct. 25th and observed nothing special.
Edwin Holmes.
History
•
Kidd immediately expressed some skepticism about Holmes' find because
of its nearness to M31;
•
However, on November 7.75, Kidd and Bartlett (Bramley) spotted the comet
with the naked eye.
•
The Discovery was confirmed by Edward Walter Maunder of the Royal
Observatory in Greenwich, England.
•
Being the third comet discovery of 1892, it was given the initial designation
of Comet Holmes 1892 III.
•
The Comet was also discovered independently by Thomas Anderson of
Scotland on November 8 and by John Ewen Davidson of Queensland,
Australia on November 9.
History
• At first it was thought that this object might be a
return of Comet Biela and that it’s orbit had
changed.
• Calculating a new orbit using Holmes’ current
position would place it in the same path as the
Earth on November 27th.
• The world faced it’s doom by cometary
destruction in just a few short weeks…
History
• With the eyes of the world anxiously
watching, astronomers quickly
recalculated.
History
• With the eyes of the world anxiously
watching, astronomers quickly
recalculated.
The world was
safe once again !
History
• The Comet was observed by W.F. Denning of the Bristol
Observatory…
•
The comet discovered by Mr. Holmes on Nov. 6th was observed here on
Nov 9th at 5h 50m and found to consist of a very bright circular nebulosity
with central condensation. The diameter of the comet was 5’ 41”.
•
It was reobserved on November 16th at 10h 45m and its physical
appearance seemed to have undergone a complete transformation. The
diameter had increased to 10’ 33” and the cometary material had become
much fainter and more irregular.
•
The nucleus was now in the form of a bright streak, and this was enveloped
in a large faint coma. A small star was seen just N of the W extremity of the
nucleus, and the latter seemed composed of knots of nebulosity.
History
•
On November 9th 1892 M Bigourdan of the Paris Observatory made
the following observation
•
The Comet was a large and bright nebulosity, perfectly round, and 5.5’ in
diameter. It showed a central diffuse nucleus 10” in diameter. A rather
brighter portion of an approximately elliptical form appeared to extend from
the nucleus in the direction p= 127deg, its axis being 1.5’ and 30”
respectively.
•
On Nov 13th the comet was seen only intermittently. It was 8’ in diameter
and nearly round. The nucleus no longer occupied the centre, but had
shifted towards the preceding portion. The elliptical region was 2’ by 30”,
and in the direction p=116.8deg.
•
To the naked eye it was easily visible, being as bright as the Andromeda
nebula near it, but less easily distinguished , owing to its smaller apparent
size…..
History
• On January 16th 1893 Prof E Barnard of
the Lick Observatory in California made
the following observation:
“This is certainly the most remarkable
comet I have ever seen, taking
everything into consideration.”
• Observing with a 12-inch, he estimated the comet’s diameter at 30”.
• While under observation “the comet seemed to be perceptibly
brightening”, and further measurements gave a diameter of 32.4”.
• At this time he says: “The nucleus had developed clearly, and was very
noticeable as a small ill-defined star.”
• With the 36-inch, which he was able to use later, he made the following
measurements, which we reproduce here, as they are unique in showing the
increase in diameter of the comet due evidently to some external impact.
Time
10h 29m
10h 30m
10h 31m
10h 42m
10h 43m
10h 45m
11h 13m
11h 15m
Diameter
43.4”
44.9”
43.6”
47.8”
47.9”
46.0”
47.3”
46.1”
History
•
A fine account of the comet can be seen in the 1912 Edition of "Astronomy"
from The Concise Knowledge Library, written by Agnes Clarke, A. Fowler,
and J. Ellard Gore and published by Hutchinson. In the chapter Nature and
Origin of Comets (page 378) Agnes Clarke writes:
History
•
A fine account of the comet can be seen in the 1912 Edition of "Astronomy"
from The Concise Knowledge Library, written by Agnes Clarke, A. Fowler,
and J. Ellard Gore and published by Hutchinson. In the chapter Nature and
Origin of Comets (page 378) Agnes Clarke writes:
•
On November 8th, 1892, Prof. Barnard secured a very perfect
representation of a peculiar looking comet grouped with the great
Andromeda and its attendant nebula. Discovered only two days previously
by Mr. Edwin Holmes of London, it presented a great round disc with
definite edges visible to the naked eye. This contained a tail in embryo,
which subsequently opened into a feeble brush, the head being then pearshaped, and granulated like a remote star cluster.
History
"Its appearance,"
Prof. Barnard
wrote, "was
absolutely
different from
that of any
comet I had
ever seen. It
was a perfectly
circular and
clean cut disc
of dense light,
almost
planetary in
outline. There
was a faint
hazy nucleus."
History
•A photograph
taken by him,
(Barnard), showed,
distant about one
degree to the
south east, "a
large irregular
mass of nebulosity
covering an area
of one square
degree or more,
and noticeably
connected with the
comet by a short
hazy tail.“
The Tail in 1892
History
• This object underwent extraordinary vicissitudes of
aspect. From a seeming planet it quickly degenerated by
distension into the thinnest of nebulosities; then
suddenly on January 16th, 1893, gathered itself together
into an ill-defined star of the eighth magnitude.
• This evanescent outburst was simultaneously observed
in several parts of the world. After some minor rallies and
relapses, the comet finally, on April 6th 1893, melted into
the sky-background.
History
• Astronomers Heinrich Kreutz and George
Mary Searle eventually established the
perihelion date as June 13 and the orbital
period as 6.9 years.
History
• Comet Holmes was subsequently
observed in 1899 and 1906.
• Then Comet Holmes was lost for the next
58 years...
History
• The Comet was recovered on July 16,
1964 by Elizabeth Roemer of the US
Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona,
USA aided by computer predictions by the
renowned mathematician, Brian G.
Marsden.
History
• Comet Holmes was recovered on July 16,
1964 by Elizabeth Roemer of the US
Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona,
USA aided by computer predictions by the
renowned mathematician, Brian G.
Marsden.
• The comet has been observed on every
return since 1964.
Which brings us to…
Which brings us to…
Comet 17P/Holmes stunned comet watchers across the planet Earth earlier this week. On October 24, it
increased in brightness over half a million times in a matter of hours. The outburst transformed it from an
obscure and faint comet quietly orbiting the Sun with a period of about 7 years to a naked-eye comet rivaling
the brighter stars in the constellation Perseus. Recorded on that date, this view highlights the comet's
(enhanced and circled) dramatic new visibility in urban skies. The inset (left) is a telescopic image from a
backyard in Buffalo, New York showing the comet's greatly expanded coma, but apparent lack of a tail.
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
• The e-mails that were heard ‘round the world…
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
• The e-mails that were heard ‘round the world…
• Amateur Astronomer Juan Antonio Henríquez
Santana (MPC J51) reports a outburst of Comet
17P/Holmes. Observations during the night of
2007 October 23/24 show that the comet is
some 7 magnitudes brighter.
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
• The e-mails that were heard ‘round the world…
• Amateur Astronomer Juan Antonio Henríquez
Santana (MPC J51) reports a outburst of Comet
17P/Holmes. Observations during the night of
2007 October 23/24 show that the comet is
some 7 magnitudes brighter.
• The outburst has been confirmed by Gustavo
Muler (MPC J47) and Ramon Naves & Montse
Campàs (MPC 213).
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
• Dear Ramon, After seeing your e-mail, I looked
for 17P/Holmes and found what appears to be a
yellowish, 7.1 magnitude star at the comet's
position. With averted vision I may have seen a
faint coma or maybe not. Moonlight made
itdifficult to be certain. Is this "star" actually 17P?
Thank you, Bob King, Duluth, Minn. USA
• Now, things were really looking up. Not only was
there a comet out there visible in my scopes, but
it was observed from the continental US ! “Hey, if
Bob from Duluth can see it, so can I!”
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
• The next emails knocked my socks off……
• Hello Giovanni and all, The comet is now naked
eye at mag. 4.0!
• Dear colleagues, I confirmed the unbelievable
super outburst of 17P/Holmes beside Tsurumi
River in Yokohama City, Kanagawa, Japan! It is
visible with naked eyes in a large city!
The Morning of October 24th, 2007
• I immediately fired off an email to my fellow
BRAS members before setting off to work the 311 shift.
• During the afternoon Dave L and Dave G
followed up with mailings of ephemerides and
finder charts.
• Now, if it would only stay clear until I got home at
Midnight…
The Morning of October 25th, 2007
•
I got home last night @ 12:30am. Sat in my little pod until 2:30am watching
clouds whizz by .Suddenly a clear spot developed in front of the moon and I
quickly aligned my goto using the moon, then focused my 30D at prime
focus of the Orion 120mm f/5.0. Then I entered the coordinates of the comet
and it dutifully slewed to the desired location. Another 45 minutes passed
before a sucker hole finally opened up over Perseus. I was watching
with binoculars and found the comet immediately recognizable. It was at
least 2nd mag, BRIGHT yellow and HUGE! Imagine Mars being yellow.
That's what the comet looks like in binoculars.
•
I quickly rushed to the scope and looked inside. There it was. The apparent
diameter was even more impressive in a scope. With an added bonus: In
the scope you could see a thin outer layer of fuzziness. What a sight. This is
a must see comet & do it quickly. There's a lot of speculation out there over
whether this current brightening will last, or perhaps it's the comets death
toll.
•
Only time will tell......
Naked eye view of the comet in Perseus
The Morning of October 25th, 2007
• Left: 200mm Tele
The Morning of October 25th, 2007
• Left: 200mm Tele
Right: 8” f/6.3 SCT
The Morning of October 25th, 2007
• The internet was a cornucopia of comet activity
the likes of which I’ve never seen.
• Everybody had a comment and everybody had
photos they wanted to show off.
• Animations started appearing. Spectroscopic
views and photometric observations abounded.
• It was a comet lover’s dream come true!
My Animation -10 to 300 seconds
BRAS Members get ‘er done
•
Emails were firing around our club member’s, as well….
•
I'm at a loss for words. Astronomically that's only happened to me one other time -The
Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact with Jupiter. This is one odd duck! I just finished viewing it for about 5
minutes through 12x50 binocs as the clouds rolled in. It truly is unusual to say the least. I'll be
checking for sucker holes through the evening because I want to see what a scope might show.
Larry Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:52:17 -0400Larry ljano@apk.net
•
John:Just spotted Comet Holmes: The darn thing is naked eye at a full moon! At least 2nd mag!!
Very yellow in color with a very distinct coma & nucleus. I just finished viewing it with my trusty
10x50s and my old Jeagers 4inch F5. The view was awesome at all magnifications.
Jack Reising Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:07:31 -0700 (PDT)John R jcrstarguy57@yahoo.com
•
John, when I looked at your photos I first thought you uncharacteristically missed the mark by a
bit. Now that I've viewed it through a scope I can see the photo's are pretty dead on. I kept
wanting to focus and/or clean non existant dew off the lens. Almost perfectly circular coma! Larry
J Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:35:00 -0400Larry ljano@apk.net
•
Found it tonight, full moon, 7:45 p.m., with 10X50 handheld binocs, then brought out the tripodmounted 20X80s. Astonishing sight. Clouds rolled in, but later cleared nicely, and there it is. This
thing is especially stunning in stereo-vision with 20X magnification. An ethereal globe illuminated
from the center. Wow. --Bill Ruth Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:18:49 -0400William Ruth
William.A.Ruth@oberlin.edu
BRAS Members get ‘er done
•
Group, Here's my low tech (elementary?) comet photo of the amazing comet Holmes.
Wow, this is some strange comet. Brightening by a million times? Dave, Thu, 25 Oct
2007 22:33:07 -0400David Lengyel dave_lengyel@amherst.k12.oh.us
October 27th, 2008
• By the 27th the overall appearance of the comet was totally different.
It no longer resembled an out of focus star. While the overall
AVARAGE brightness had dimmed the central core or nucleus had
brightened and the outer dimmer section had expanded nearly
twofold.
• For lack of a better reference people started referring to the comet
as a nebulous, almost planetary looking object.
• And the core seemed to be playing little tricks on us, too.
• As stars moved behind the comet people would often mistake them
for chunks of nucleus breaking off the comet.
October 27th, 2008
Today the comet’s diameter increased to 2/3rds Lunar diameter !
October 28th, 2008
Today the comet’s diameter increased to 3/4ths Lunar diameter !
October 30th, 2008
A Bright Core, offset jet and diffuse coma appears
November 2nd, 2008
• BRAS Star Party @ The Nielson Observatory
November 3rd, 2007
• A blue Ion Tail begins developing…
November 5th, 2007
• A tail resembling a calamari appears
November 6th, 2007
• Up to this point the comet has passed perehelion and has been
racing toward the Earth and away from the Sun.
• Today the comet approached within 1.61 astronomical units of Earth.
• In any other comet, this would mean that the comet would begin to
dim and grow smaller as it moved away from us.
• But Comet Holmes is not just another comet…
November 7th, 2008
• And promptly disconnects
November 8th, 2007
Comet trails over Amherst, Ohio
November 9th, 2007
•
" Spectacular outbursting comet 17P/Holmes continues to expand and is now the
largest single object in the Solar system, being bigger than the Sun.
November 9th, 2007
•
“The diameter of the tenuous dust atmosphere of the comet was measured at 1.4
million kilometers (0.9 million miles) on 2007 November 9 by Rachel Stevenson, Jan
Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
•
They used observations from a wide-field camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope (CFHT), one of the few professional instruments still capable of capturing
the whole comet in one image.
•
The present eruption of comet Holmes was first reported on October 24 and has
continued at a steady 0.5 km/sec (1100 mph) ever since.
•
The comet is an unprecedented half a million times brighter than before the eruption
began.
•
This amazing eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid
nucleus made of ice and rock, only 3.6 km (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter. "
Summary for the first two weeks
•
By November 7th, the comet had undergone quite a metamorphosis. We, as
amateur astronomers are accustomed to measuring changes to the sky in
weekly, monthly, yearly and even decade long timeframes.
Summary for the first two weeks
•
By November 1st, the comet had undergone quite a metamorphosis. We, as
amateur astronomers are accustomed to measuring changes to the sky in
weekly, monthly, yearly and even decade long timeframes.
•
For example, we anxiously await the minima of Algol next week, or the new
moon next month, or the big meteor shower next year, or even the eclipse of a
lifetime in 2025. An entire industry has sprung up to keep us informed of what’s
coming up and when and where it’s coming up. There’s a plethora of
magazines, calendars, publications and internet resources available to keep us
informed of the parade of nightly events in our sky.
Summary for the first two weeks
•
By November 1st, the comet had undergone quite a metamorphosis. We, as
amateur astronomers are accustomed to measuring changes to the sky in
weekly, monthly, yearly and even decade long timeframes.
•
For example, we anxiously await the minima of Algol next week, or the new
moon next month, or the big meteor shower next year, or even the eclipse of a
lifetime in 2025. An entire industry has sprung up to keep us informed of what’s
coming up and when and where it’s coming up. There’s a plethora of
magazines, calendars, publications and internet resources available to keep us
informed of the parade of nightly events in our sky.
•
But, nothing like this has ever happened before. Sure, there have been lots of
comets before, but none that have ever maintained the excitement level of
Comet Holmes. Most comets have a pretty predictable life, you must admit.
They appear, move toward the sun, brighten, move away from the sun, dim and
return to oblivion. Sure they may sprout a tail and give us some really
spectacular views, but none have ever come even remotely close to putting on
a show like Holmes.
Summary for the first two weeks
• It’s a bit overwhelming when an event takes place in the sky
that dramatically changes overnight, every night.
Summary for the first two weeks
• It’s a bit overwhelming when an event takes place in the sky
that dramatically changes overnight, every night.
• In the first week the comet went from 17.5 magnitude to 1.8
mag. If that wasn’t enough it went from just a few arcseconds
in diameter to a few whopping degrees in apparent diameter.
Summary for the first two weeks
• It’s a bit overwhelming when an event takes place in the sky
that dramatically changes overnight, every night.
• In the first week the comet went from 17.5 magnitude to 1.8
mag. If that wasn’t enough it went from just a few arcseconds
in diameter to a few whopping degrees in apparent diameter.
• Every single night out with comet Holmes was like a night out
with a totally new comet. One night it had a jet, next night it had
two nuclei, then it had a tail, then the tail disconnected, then
the diameter doubled, etc, etc.
Summary for the first two weeks
• I was having a rough time staying awake at work. I
found myself spending every dark, clear moment
possible in my observatory.
Summary for the first two weeks
• I was having a rough time staying awake at work. I
found myself spending every dark, clear moment
possible in my observatory.
• I shot thousands of photos and have many, many
gigabytes of files and am close to filling my external
½ terabyte drive. (Get ‘er Done!)
Summary for the first two weeks
• I was having a rough time staying awake at work. I
found myself spending every dark, clear moment
possible in my observatory.
• I shot thousands of photos and have many, many
gigabytes of files and am close to filling my external
½ terabyte drive. (Get ‘er Done!)
• I cursed our beloved northern Ohio weather every
cloudy night, because I didn’t want to miss that next
big event that Comet Holmes had in store for us.
Summary for the first two weeks
Getting Fancy
• Over the next 2 weeks it was mostly
cloudy as the northern Ohio Lake Erie
Snow Machine kicked into high gear.
• I didn’t get many pictures and some were
compromised a/c of shooting thru sucker
holes in the clouds…
Getting Fancy
• Is that a Comet in them thar trees?
Getting Fancy
• Icicles pointing out the Demon Star…
Getting Fancy
• Comet Holmes, meet M34…
Size thru Meade 8” SCT @ Prime Focus
• October 25th thru November 16
The tail cometh…
The tail cometh…
The tail cometh…
…..and the tail goeth.
December 26th, 2007
Holmes
&
Tuttle
Meet!
December 30th, 2007
Comet
Holmes,
Tuttle
and
M31
(again)
Afterward
•
Sir Isaac Newton described comets as compact and durable solid bodies
moving in oblique orbits, and their tails as thin streams of vapor emitted by
their nuclei, ignited or heated by the sun.
•
Newton suspected that comets were the origin of the life-supporting
component of air.
•
Newton also believed that the vapors given off by comets might replenish the
planets' supplies of water (which was gradually being converted into soil by the
growth and decay of plants).
•
He also suspected that many comets got pulled into the Sun, thereby
replenishing the sun's supply of fuel
Afterward
• Comet Holmes is a Jovian Class Comet
Afterward
• Light curve of Comet Holmes
Afterward
• Light curve of Comet Holmes
Afterward
• Diameter of Comet Holmes
Afterward
At the 30-m radiotelescope (Pico
Veleta, Spain) first observations
made on 26 October revealed
strong lines of the CS radical and
of the carbon monoxide (CO),
methanol (CH3OH) and hydrogen
cyanide (HCN) molecules,
coming from the sublimation of
cometary ices.
The observed amount of gas is
larger than what was produced by
giant comet Hale-Bopp at the end
of 1996, when at the same
distance from the Sun.
Afterward
•
The 18-cm lines of the OH radical were observed with the Nançay radio
telescope (Chart above). The OH radical, whose production follows the
photodestruction of the water molecule, allows scientists to estimate the
amount of water escaping from the comet.
Afterward
•
An international astronomy team, led by Drs. Dominique Bockelee-Morvan and Nicolas Biver at
Observatoire de Paris in France and Drs. Darek Lis and Ruisheng Peng at Caltech used the 10.4meter Leighton telescope at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and the IRAM 30-meter
telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain) in order to investigate the composition of the comet and better
understand what happened to the comet.
•
First observations using the IRAM 30-meter radio telescope (Pico Veleta, Spain) on October 26th
revealed intense lines of the CS radical and of the molecules of carbon monoxide (CO), methanol
(CH3OH) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), which originate from the sublimation of the cometary ices.
•
The quantities of observed gases released by 17P/Holmes were at that date almost similar to
those released by comet Hale-Bopp at its closest approach to the Sun. These molecules were
produced by the evaporation of the dust grains released by the fragmentation of the comet’s
nucleus.
•
In order to better understand the fragmentation process, strong lines of hydrogen cyanide (HCN)
were monitored at the IRAM 30-m telescope and CSO until November 4. The signals which were
measured in the field of view of the telescopes (corresponding to a projected distance of 12000
km on the comet’s surface) decreased rapidly until October 30, and then faded more slowly.
•
Afterward
•
Observations of hydrogen isocyanide (HNC), an isomer of HCN, were conducted at the CSO. The
origin of this molecule in cometary atmospheres is matter of debate. Its abundance relative to
HCN varies among comets.
•
Measurements in a dozen comets showed that the abundance of HNC relative to HCN increases
with decreasing distance to the Sun, suggesting that HNC is released by the thermal degradation
of grains as the grains become hotter when the comets are closer to the Sun (Lis et al. 2007).
•
The huge outburst of comet Holmes provided a unique opportunity to measure the HNC/HCN
ratio for a comet far from the Sun (2.4 AU).
Afterward
•
Unexpectedly, this ratio was measured to be much higher than the value extrapolated from the
measurements obtained at smaller heliocentric distances, implying possibly that other sources of
HNC are present in cometary atmospheres, or that the subsurface layers of the nucleus of this
comet were especially rich in HNC.
Afterward
A composite of Comet
Holmes photos showing
the comet's size and
motion in the
constellation Perseus
from October 25, 2007
through March 9, 2008.
Afterward
A simulation showing
the angular
diameter of the
expanding dust
cloud for 120 days
past the initial
event on October
24. The surface
brightness will
continue to
decrease over
time.
Afterward
•
Pseudo-scientific theories abounded.
Afterward
The Hidden Finger of God: Astrologers Note: There is a 150° (quincunx) aspect between the Jupiter-PlutoGalactic Centre synod and the Earth-Comet Holmes-Mirphak synod. Square the Earth-Holmes synod and
trine the Jupiter Pluto synod. And most importantly, Venus and Earth-Holmes (in sextile 60°) create a Finger
of God pointing to the Jupiter-Pluto synod. (The synods and aspects are seen in a heliocentric chart.)
This is the Finger of God, also know as a "Yod" in astrological terms. The pointers come from Venus and EarthHomes. They point toward Jupiter-Pluto. The harmonic geometry is called a Finger of God because it
demands that the point be addressed. The means to do so is by claiming the strength between Venus (heart,
art passion, rapture, and beauty) and the Earth Holmes-Perseus theme presented above; and to then redirect
that strength with creativity to walk through the portal being opened by Jupiter and Pluto. Saturn stands as
witness and creates a challenge to do so (the square (90°) and also makes the opportunity easy (the trine
120°) if one accepts the challenge.
Afterward
•
Animation showing the dust expansion made with images from Oct 26th to Nov 12th Filter Shott
RG695 T1M F/5
•
Image processing : left rotational gradient with alpha = 7.5°, right rotational unsharp mask
Afterward
Orbital characteristics:
•
Epoch:October 27, 2007 (JD 2454400.5)
•
Aphelion distance:5.183610 AU
•
Perihelion distance:2.053218 AU
•
Semi-major axis:3.618414 AU
•
Eccentricity:0.432564
•
Orbital period:6.882994
•
Inclination:19.1126°
•
Last perihelion:May 4, 2007
•
Next perihelion:March 22, 2014
Sources
•
Edwin Holmes to The English Mechanic, November 6th 1892
•
W.F. Denning, Bristol, November 20th 1892
•
Observations from M Bigourdan, Paris Observatory, November 9th 1892
•
Prof E Barnard, Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California, January 16th 1893
•
The Cosmic Mirror, 1892
•
"The Great Comet Scare" 27th Nov. 1892: From Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol XII 1893 "The
Holmes'Comet" W.W. Payne
•
1912 Edition of "Astronomy" from The Concise Knowledge Library, written by Agnes Clarke, A.
Fowler, and J. Ellard Gore and published by Hutchinson.
Sources
•
Historical Observations of Comet Holmes (1892 III) - David Strange, Norman Lockyer
Observatory - Sidmouth, Devon U.K., 13th November 2007
•
Gary W. Kronk. updated October 2007. "17P/Holmes" [A page within a cometography website with
both historical information and current images.]
•
Seiichi Yoshida. "17P/Holmes (2007)" [A plot of the comet brightness with time.] photos used with
permission of Mr. Yoshida
•
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) Studying Astrochemistry on the Exploding Comet
17P/Holmes
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A novel mechanism for outbursts of Comet 17P/Holmes and other short-period comets. Authors:
Richard Miles
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What happened to Comet 17P-HOLMES? Pic du Midi Observatory
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Wikopedia
The Evanescent Outburst(s)
Of Comet 17/P Holmes
Presented by:
HAND HELD PRODUCTIONS
Copyright, 2008
John W. O’Neal, II