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  Summary: Comet 17P/Holmes shocked astronomers on Oct. 24, 2007, with a spectacular eruption. In less than 24 hours, the 17th magnitude comet brightened by a factor of nearly a million, becoming a naked-eye object in the evening sky. By mid-November the expanding comet was the largest object in the solar system--bigger even than the Sun. Since then, the comet has faded back to invisibility. A leading model of the blast posits a deep cavern of ice changing phase, from amorphous to crystalline, releasing in transition enough heat to cause Holmes to blow its top. The comet probably contains many such caverns so, one day, it could happen again. [ephemeris] [3D orbit]
 
  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Eric Allen,
Observatoire du Cégep de Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
Oct. 27, 2007
#1

I finally found some time to combine 3 images of comet Holmes taken with our 16'' telescope and a ST-9E. This animation shows the magnitude of what happened. To get a sense of scale, I added Jupiter to the animation. It thus shows what it would have looked like if Jupiter and Holmes were side by side and if they were at the same distance to Earth.

Martin McKenna,
Maghera, Co. Derry, N. Ireland
Oct. 27, 2007
#1, more

Here's a vertical widefield image of comet Holmes with associated constellations and bright stars taken from my back garden. I estimated the comet at mag +2.2 and I could see the comet's coma easily with the naked eye!

Photo details: FujiS5600 5.1MP at ISO800 15 sec exp at F.3.2


Phil Dombrowski,
Glastonbury, CT
Oct. 28, 2007
#1, more

A six second photo taken through a Takahashi 6"APO refractor using a digital Nikon set to ISO1600. Especially noteworthy are three 11th magnitude stars shining through the coma of the comet. Photo taken 10/28/07 at 00:30UT.


Darrell Spangler,
Drake, Colorado
Oct. 27, 2007
#1

I got this image of Comet 17P/Holmes just before moonrise. You can now clearly see the coma disk even through the fog and high clouds.


Horace Smith,
East Lansing, MI
Oct. 28, 2007
#1, more

Expanding 17P/Holmes from combined B, V, R images taken with an Apogee Alta CCD on the Michigan State University 24-inch telescope. 1:05 UT.


Jim Hung,
Taipei Astronomical Museum,Taipei,Taiwan
Oct. 27, 2007
#1

Photo details: Nikon D70 DSLR camera on a GOTO-45cm Cassegrain Reflector with 2X Tele-converter , 200~400 ASA, 30~62s exposure.


Luis Carreira,
Leiria, Portugal
Oct. 27, 2007
#1, #2, more

The size and color changes on 17P/Holmes in 48 hours 25 and 27 October 23:20 UT. Takahashi Sky90 and Nikon D70.

Lorenzo Comolli,
Tradate, VA, Italy
Oct. 27, 2007
#1, #2, more

Dust and gas: 17PHolmes is now showing both CO gas (green external disk) and dust (yellow internal disk). Imaged with a Schmidt Camera, 30 cm f/2.0 + CCD, total exposure 22 min. In the line profile graph it's evident that the external disk is dominated by green emission of gas. (log values, sun direction toward positive values)


Antonello Medugno,
Capua (Italy), 2007.10.26/27
Oct. 26, 2007
#1, more

Multi-wavelength imaging of the comet 17P/Holmes

Joon-Young Choi,
Center of Korea Observatory, Yanggu-gun, Kangwon-do, South Korea
Oct. 27, 2007
#1, #2, more

I captured so a fantastic feature of Comet Holmes. The bigger comet has the expanding dust cloud from a initial explosion. 80cm Nasmyth telescope(F10), Canon EOS 30D, 8sX20 exposure


Philippe Boeuf,
Near Carcassone, south of France
Oct. 27, 2007
#1, more

Very impressive now, and very large!

more images (Oct. 27): from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex; from R.T. Smith of Stoneville, NC; from Didier Favre of Brétigny sur Orge, France; from Scott Alder of Wallsend, just west of Newcastle, NSW, Australia; from Joao Rebelo of Oporto, Portugal, Europe; from Tim Caruk of St John's, Newfoundland, Canada; from Masa Nakamura of Otawara, Tochigi, JAPAN; from Giulio Cherini of Trieste - Italy; from Paolo Candy of Cimini Astronomical Observatory - Soriano - Italy; from Conrad Jung of Chabot Space & Science Center Oakland, CA; from Marco Migliardi & Alessandro Dimai of Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy; from Russ Wheeler of Edmond, Oklahoma; from Bob Cash of Gold Canyon, Arizona; from Tom Gwilym of Renton, Washington; from Ron Hodges of Midland Texas; from Loyd Overcash of Houston Texas.