[meteorite-list] Comet surprise makes it visible to naked eye

From: Jerry <grf2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:26:46 -0500
Message-ID: <AF92D9136D264B46A2FF42ABF68A80A0_at_Notebook>

Gee wiz,
Impact?! I feel like Gene Schomaker trying to get everyone's attention.
Lunar, Jupiter, Earth, Mercury, many of the outer planets and their moons
but not a Comet.
I'm just hypothesizing here but is this some kind of precedent that must be
ruled out because OBSERVATION of an event has not been SCIENFICICALLY
documented!
Wow, where's the imagination in all that??!
OK, roll of the LAWS of average. I'll retire but I just had to have a say.
Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Utas" <meteoritekid at gmail.com>
To: "Meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 9:09 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Comet surprise makes it visible to naked eye


> http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/11/05/brighter.comet.ap/index.html
>
> KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A comet that unexpectedly brightened in
> the last couple of weeks and is now visible to the naked eye is
> attracting professional and amateur interest.
>
> [image]
> Comet 17P/Holmes is seen among the stars of the constellation Perseus
> in the North-Eastern sky.
>
> Paul Lewis, director of astronomy outreach at the University of
> Tennessee, is drawing students to the roof of the Nielsen Physics
> Building for special viewings of Comet 17P/Holmes.
>
> The comet is exploding and its coma, a cloud of gas and dust
> illuminated by the sun, has grown to be bigger than the planet
> Jupiter. The comet lacks the tail usually associated with such
> celestial bodies but can be seen in the northern sky, in the
> constellation Perseus, as a fuzzy spot of light about as bright as the
> stars in the Big Dipper.
>
> "This is truly a celestial surprise," Lewis said. "Absolutely amazing."
>
> Until October 23, the comet had been visible to modern astronomers
> only with a telescope, but that night it suddenly erupted and
> expanded.
>
> A similar burst in 1892 led to the comet's discovery by Edwin Holmes.
>
> "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event to witness, along the lines of
> when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into Jupiter back in 1994," Lewis
> said.
>
> Scientists speculate the comet has exploded because there are
> sinkholes in its nucleus, giving it a honeycomb-like structure. The
> collapse exposed comet ice to the sun, which transformed the ice into
> gas.
>
> "What comets do when they are near the sun is very unpredictable,"
> Lewis said. "We expect to see a coma cloud and a tail, but this is
> more like an explosion, and we are seeing the bubble of gas and dust
> as it expands away from the center of the blast."
>
> Experts aren't sure how long the comet's show will last but estimate
> it could be weeks if not months. Using a telescope or binoculars help
> bring the comet's details into view, they said. E-mail to a friend
>
> Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material
> may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Received on Mon 05 Nov 2007 09:26:46 PM PST