Comet Holmes Makes It’s Appearance

I found out today that you can see a naked eye comet in the constellation of Perseus. On October 24th comet Holmes erupted and brightened almost a million times, taking it from magnitude 17 to 2.5 (the smaller the number, the brighter the object). Comet Holmes is a periodic comet that was discovered in 1892 by Edwin Holmes during another such eruption. You can find where to see the comet with this map. I went out tonight and took a peek with binoculars. It looks like a fuzzy circle, not your typical comet shape, but very cool nonetheless. The reason we don’t see the tail is that it is in the line of sight with the Earth, so we’re looking down the length of the tail. If you have a pair of binoculars or a telescope, it would be worth pulling them out and taking a look. You should be able to see the comet at least through the middle of the month, at which time the moon returns and will light up the sky. Right now the comet is just beyond the orbit of Mars and appears to be about the size of a third of the full moon.