Comet tail disconnected from 17/Holmes nucleus [by Thorsten Boeckel]
Comet 17P/Holmes gives us surprise again. The comet’s tail disconnected from the nucleus. It’s believed to be caused by gusts the solar wind which trigger magnetic storms around the comet. This phenomena is not rare, it happened on Comet Encke earlier this year.
Amateur astronomers are monitoring this comet each night. What about you? Since my last observation, the sky has been cloudy until now.
Below is the direct quote from SpaceWeather.com regarding the satellite of Holmes.
Continue reading ‘Comet 17P/Holmes: Tail Disconnected’
Building burnt?
I wonder whether the lightning stroke anybody. I never see a thunderbolt being that low. Chicago must be well known for this fierce natural phenomena. More photos at Lightning by Chicago over Lake Michigan
It seems like I haven’t found the best setting to image 17P/Holmes. I just got a very noisy (offset too high) image with no detail. Time to go to CloudyNights.com to ask the community why.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the comet last night. Although the clouds are still there, I could still easily spot it by its “nebulosity”. I found that the telescopic view (8″ LX90 2000mm) was more spectacular than the the binocular (Meade 9×63mm). If you had watched Armageddon, you would quickly recognize the comet as the asteroid in the movie. It looks so threatening to us but it’s not going to collide with us. So, NASA doesn’t have to send Bruce Willis to drill a hole there.
All right, good weather is gone again. Let’s hope the sky will clear soon.
WOOOooooHoooOO! It’s so wonderful that a heavy downpour happened in the evening and most of the clouds are gone now. What’s the “star” tonight? Well, Comet 17P/Holmes is the “star” for the whole week and the next whole week. I’m watching it now. Sure, my laptop and Meade LPI is going to record it down and show it to my fellow friends. They are just too busy with the upcoming SPM exam (the O’ level exam).
