Comet 17/P Holmes

An interesting event occurred in our "neighborhood" this evening. Comet 17/P Holmes increased in magnitude dramatically from 17 to 3 within a space of hours. Here is some information about the event, courtesy Sky and Telescope magazine.

I found the comet very easily with binoculars, initially. I then moved the 6" dobsonian telescope out to the front yard and it looked quite good. I could clearly see a nucleus and coma, all with a yellow-reddish tint to it. It was a quite a sight! The photo on this blog entry is my pathetic attempt at capturing it. Still, it's an "okay" representation of how it looked through the eyepiece tonight. Look carefully, you can distinguish the nucleus from the coma.

Anyway, keep an eye on this one. It could get interesting! BTW use binoculars to spot it first! Much easier that way!