Comet Holmes

Comet Holmes suddenly brightened in late October to become an object visible to the naked eye. So this intrepid hobbit just had to go have a look. Last Saturday (11/1/07) I headed out to the Atsion Ranger station in the Wharton State Forest with star charts in hand to see if I could spot this comet. This spot seems to work out well for me as it is close enough to home and far enough from the lights for some casual star gazing. There is an open field behind the ranger station with a reasonable view of the sky. Just don't run over the herd of deer that call this place home late in the evening.

The comet was high in the north east sky in the constellation Perseus. Star gazing when I was in the scouts came in handy as I was able to spot Cassiopeia, you know that big W in the sky, not the big W at the end of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. From there I spotted the comet before I recognized Perseus. Something was not right about that one star. It was fuzzy and it wasn't twinklin' - all signs that its something other than a sign. I got out the binocs and sure enough - it was the comet.

(Image from wikipedia)

The comet looked like a dim fuzzy star. If you try to think back to times when we watched the stars to tell the seasons for planting and harvest you can imagine the awe our ancestors must of felt when a "guest star" suddenly appeared to shake up the order of the heavens. Comets where once thought to be bad omens. To me its just another one of the glories and mysteries of God's creation.

I remember trying to spot Halley's Comet on its last return in 1986. I never did see that one. I finally spotted my first comet in 1996, Comet Hyakutake . Comet Holmes reminds me somewhat of my first comet - just a fuzzy star. Not at all like Comet Hale-Bopp the next year which was visible over city lights and had a visible tail.

If Comet Holmes follows its past history, it had a similar sudden brightening in 1892 when it was discovered, then it may be visible for the next couple of weeks. The comet is currently in retrograde motion so it will be doing a loop in Perseus for some time to come.

So go check out the comet. Some fun star gazing to be had!