Obscure Comet Brightens Suddenly

Comet 17P/Holmes has suddenly increased brightness from 17 to 2.8 magnitude and can now be seen with the naked eye.

A small and very faint comet has surprised observers around the world by overnight becoming bright enough to see with the unaided eye.

Comet Holmes, which was discovered in November 1892 by Edwin Holmes, in London England, was no brighter than magnitude 17 in mid-October—that's about 25,000 times fainter than the faintest star that can normally be seen without any optical aid. In order to view an object this faint, one would need a moderately large telescope.

But the comet's brightness has suddenly rocketed all the way up to 3rd-magnitude, brightening nearly 400,000-times in less than 24-hours! On this astronomers scale, smaller numbers mean brighter objects. From urban locations, a 3rd-magnitude object might be hidden by light pollution, but under rural skies it would be clearly vsiible.

Obscure Comet Brightens Suddenly

This is an interesting surprise. I'm hearing that a comet has not increased brightness this drastic before. It is currently located near the Perseus constellation. Unfortunately, it will be cloudy in my area for a few days, but they say it may remain bright for a few weeks.

Here is more on 17P/Holmes Comet.

Yet another nail in the coffin for standard comet theory. I wonder just how long they'll cling to the dirty snowball idea, those astronomers are a stubborn bunch.

Thanks for posting this, here's a link to the comets orbital path.
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov...

Wow, that's an interesting clip about this comet! I fear these things worse then asteroids. HERE'S a thread about comet "Honda" and a potential strike in 2011 w/ a close pass this December.

Originally posted by squiz


Thanks for posting this, here's a link to the comets orbital path.
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov...

that's a really nice graphic,
what intrigues me is the ?inclination? (angle) of Comet Holmes
at a seeming 45 degree angle to the solar plane
i kinda deduce that it originated from either the Oort cloud or that Kueiper?
belt of comets & rocks.

my fantasy explaination of the sudden brightning by 400,000 percent
is that an 'outgassing' of methane or other hydrocarbon happened.
we can be sure that neithr Jupiter's reflected light nor Sol itself is responsible for a bright reflection...the cause must be from the comet itself,
such as an ionized gas?
strange!

Originally posted by St Udio
my fantasy explaination of the sudden brightning by 400,000 percent
is that an 'outgassing' of methane or other hydrocarbon happened.
we can be sure that neithr Jupiter's reflected light nor Sol itself is responsible for a bright reflection...the cause must be from the comet itself,
such as an ionized gas?
strange!

Yeah this is strange, especially because there is no tail to the comet. If it were due to outgassing you would expect to see a tail. BTW the comet was first discovered by a similar increase in brightness so this comet has done this before. It isn't like it is close to any other body that could disturb it in any way. I can't imagine what might have caused this.

Maybe since trying to torch Jupiter a la the Lucifer Project a couple of years ago when Galileo crashed into it, this could be something to do w/ it? Just an out there guess.

Here's a thread about Cassini set to 'impact' Saturn in July of 2008
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 25-10-2007 by anhinga]

Actually there's no reason to believe that comets originate from the Oort cloud or kuiper belt. Except decades of speculation that has come to be considered fact.
Samples of comet dust have shown minerals that require extremely high temperatures to form.

"The interesting thing is we are finding these high-temperature minerals in materials from the coldest place in the solar system," said Donald Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Still clutching to the dirty snowball theory, They now assume these elements are thrown to the edges of the solar system, form there and then are magically thrown into elliptical orbits.

The findings suggest materials from the center of the solar system could have traveled to the outer reaches where comets formed. This may alter the way scientists view the formation and composition of comets.

Source

Can anyone else not see the the flawed logic here?

My opinion is the comet is negatively charged and is interacting with positively charged ions, possible from a CME or Birkeland current. I'm predicting it will diminish just as quickly as it has flared up as it passes the charged region. Looking forward to see what happens.

Originally posted by squiz
My opinion is the comet is negatively charged and is interacting with positively charged ions, possible from a CME or Birkeland current. I'm predicting it will diminish just as quickly as it has flared up as it passes the charged region. Looking forward to see what happens.

That is an interesting and plausible theory.

I just had a thought. Maybe it was a collision with an asteroid or something. This comet reminds me of the Deep Impact Project. Comet Temple also became very bright after the impact.

Originally posted by St Udio
My fantasy explaination of the sudden brightning by 400,000 percent is that an 'outgassing' of methane or other hydrocarbon happened. we can be sure that neithr Jupiter's reflected light nor Sol itself is responsible for a bright reflection...the cause must be from the comet itself, such as an ionized gas?

Fusion drive kicking in for sublightspeed manoeuvring, obviously.

What else could it possibly be?

Originally posted by Hal9000
I just had a thought. Maybe it was a collision with an asteroid or something. This comet reminds me of the Deep Impact Project. Comet Temple also became very bright after the impact.

Yeah, I think that could also be a possibility. Actually I can't take credit for the theory I posted, I was just speculating based on the electric comet theory presented by Wall Thornhill. (Although I don't think he was the originator of the theory). He actually made several successful predictions regarding deep impact, NASA choices to ignore this because it means validating that space is not electrically neutral. This would have a vast impact on the way we view the universe and would change many preconceptions that have taken a foothold in modern astronomy.

Here's a stack of articles for the electric comet theory, quite a few concerning deep impact and the highly accurate predictions.
www.thunderbolts.info...

Here's some reports written by Wall Thornhill, before and after deep impact.
www.holoscience.com...
www.holoscience.com...

The theory fits perfectly with the Tunguska event as related by witnesses.
When a highly negatively charged comet enters the earths atmosphere it will arc and cause a cosmic thunderbolt the comet will explode into fragments and the thunderbolt does the cratering. In ancient times it was Zeus who hurled the cosmic thunderbolt that unleashed destruction upon the Earth, this could be the origin of that myth.
Electrical cratering has been simulated in lab experiments that have produced the characteristic flat bottoms. Many craters are found in chains and some are also accompanied by characteristic litchenburg patterns. Yep they've got cratering wrong too.



So I'm a little sad to say that many of the Martian and Lunar anomalies attributed to cities or mines posted here at ATS can be explained by means of electrical etching. Sorry Mr Lear.
Although there a few that still have me scratching my head.

You can see many more examples of electrical cratering in the first link above, under cratering of course.







[edit on 25-10-2007 by squiz]

THis post will add nothing to the discussion currently going on but I have to ask, Which direction would I look to see this comet with the naked eye now? I live in south eastern Ohio if thats any help. I would love to actually see it

reply to post by Hal9000


Comet Holmes could be the beginning of another multiple comet?

I'm an astronomical and science illustrator and have illustrated many comets based on speculative science. In the 80's I did my first multiple comet illustration after observing many single nuclei while observing and speculating this could happen with Holmes too. Shoemaker-Levy was the first recorded, so I was ecstatic seeing my theaory come to life. So, thinking about this for some time now.

Comet expert Gary Kronk expects this object to remain bright and grow from a starlike point to several arcminutes across over the next few nights as it makes its way slowly westward across Perseus. Its position on October 25th (0h UT) is right ascension 3h 53m, declination +50.1° (equinox 2000), and by October 30th it will have moved only to 3h 48m, +50.4°. For those living in the Northern Hemisphere, Perseus is visible all night at this time of year.

I am speculating that the comet could be breaking up and will slowly spread as it is influenced by planetary or solar gravitational. The brightening could be the result of more surface area exposed in the break up. Depending on how it fractioned and warming it could multiply its output my many multiples. Could this be another Shoemaker-Levy? I will go to the software (SNP)to see its track and estimate it's probable effects. I'll be looking to reports here of any observed separation or displacement of the nuclei or dramatic shape changes in the coma.
Here is a multiple-nuclei comet I painted in the late 80's passing the Lagoon Nebula.



I did a couple comets passing Earth close too, but nothing on line yet. Still making a print sales site for hundreds of images.

Holmes just went through the asteroid belt starting in December 2006 and just came out. It could have impacted an asteroid a few days ago. It's orbit is a bit eccentric but is within the orbit between Mars and Jupiter. So, a local kid.

Heres my illustration of a comet passing asteroids I did about 20 years ago.




I will observe tonight, but without a collimator my 17" Dob will be close to useless. Especially in city sky's.

Thanks Ghost, I also just read someone else suggesting the comet may be breaking up.

I was given a link to a sight with some awesome pictures of the comet.

Comet Holmes Photo Gallery


reply to post by undiscoveredsoul

I also live in Ohio and right now the Moon is rising in the East and the comet should be about the same angle but in the North East part of the sky near the Perseus Constellation. I made this image using Starry Night facing North East at around 9:15 PM EST and drew a circle where it should be.

external image

It is still cloudy where I am, but I may get a glimpse between the clouds.

[edit on 10/25/2007 by Hal9000]

[edit on 10/25/2007 by Hal9000]

I just went out and was able to see it. Naked eye, the comet is about as bright as other nearby stars, but looking through binoculars it looks like a fuzzy ball. It doesn't have a tail like a normal comet.

I went to Slooh.com and just took this picture. This thing is huge.



edit: Here is another photo using high magnification.



[edit on 10/25/2007 by Hal9000]

maybe its something else?

[edit on 26-10-2007 by LightsInYourMind]

I'm still digging through my old books browsing them as I go and I'm looking at Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky. He had some pretty out there ideas that he carefully researched. Before the internet when you actually had to go find the books and manuscripts wherever they were and read them in whatever language they were in. I might not be entirely correct but I think he believed that Venus was originally a comet until it became a planet after causing some major events here on earth. Thanks for the pictures.

The Green color is really out there. It looks just like a Green Meteorite I once saw. It leaves only two options behind the culprit for its color: It is either burning Nitrogen gases, and/or the object is composed of Copper.

No tail either, this really leaves me to believe it might be an Asteroid.

reply to post by TheAgentNineteen

I'm not sure why the first picture came out green. That happens sometimes with color cameras. It really doesn't have that color. I think the second picture is closer to true color.

When I saw it last night with my binoculars, it looked like it had an orange haze to it, but that was probably due to the atmosphere. Depending on the weather, I may setup my telescope tonight and take more pictures.

Others have described the size as being the same as Jupiter which has the largest apparent disc size in the sky except for the Moon. From the second picture, you can see the coma is not perfectly round, and similar to other descriptions I have heard of the disc being off center.

This comet has really stirred up a lot of interest among astronomers. The astronomy club I belong to is very excited.



[edit on 10/26/2007 by Hal9000]

I have to admit, I didn't read this post before seeing the comet for myself. I live in the country and I usually go outside every other night to scan the sky with my telescope. What a surprise to all of a sudden have a new magnitude 3 star in the sky!

I don't like to admit to believing in crazy theories, but I have to say: I had a Nibiru moment. I immeadiately went online and found this thread.

Thank goodness for rational thought.

I am not sure why the image in the above thread shows it as a blue orb, It looked very red to me, even when it was overhead [around 2:00am]. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts at this magnitude.

It just goes to show that we don't really understand our solar system, let alone the universe.

Cheers

Originally posted by TheAgentNineteen
The Green color is really out there. It looks just like a Green Meteorite I once saw. It leaves only two options behind the culprit for its color: It is either burning Nitrogen gases, and/or the object is composed of Copper.

Actually, the green color comes from Oxygen atoms being excited, and emitting light at the forbidden line wavelength. Nitrogen would give a red color.

With meteors (which only become "meteorites" only if they reach the ground by the way ), when they first enter the upper atmosphere, which has a prevalence of Oxygen, they appear green. Lower down however, Nitrogen is more prevalent, so the meteor will emit red light.

"Burning" would be the wrong word to use. In this case it's the interaction between charged particles from the sun and the Oxygen atoms that causes light emission.

Deny ignorance...