[meteorite-list] Fw: Comet 17P (Holmes) Visible Event !

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:09:21 -0500
Message-ID: <018f01c8169b$4bdfa8b0$b92ee146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi,

A history of Holmes at:
http://cometography.com/pcomets/017p.html
says it was discovered (1892) in a brilliant "naked-eye"
outburst but then faded away. Five months later, it
brightened again back to a lesser "naked-eye" status.
It was observed through its 1906 perihelion, but was
lost thereafter. It was often observed without any coma
whatsoever. It was recovered in 1964 after Brian Marsten
recalculated the orbit, as a coma-less condensation and
has never shown more than a wisp of coma... until now.

Hard to imagine that solar heating of volatiles at its great
distance at irregular intervals could be responsible for
such brightening. When it was discovered, it was excitedly
thought to be a recovery of Comet Biela, and we all know
what happened in Biela-ville. Exposing half the comet to
sunlight (or a third or a quarter) might do it.

[For those not up on their comet gossip, the large bright
Comet Biela broke apart into TWO Comet Bielas, then
eventually NO Comet Bielas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D/Biela]


Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fw: Comet 17P (Holmes) Visible Event !


It certainly is remarkable. Fascinating to speculate on just what
occurred to throw off what must be a vast amount of material.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "mexicodoug" <mexicodoug at aol.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 4:10 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fw: Comet 17P (Holmes) Visible Event !


> Sure, and my questions were rhetorical more than anything else (not to
> compare to Halley's Comet's size, or anything like that - they are
> miracle specific). What would the wise kings in Biblical times have
> made of this? (rhetorical)
>
> However, coma aside, a (now) 500,000 times increase in a few short
> hours is quite remarkable by any standard - especially for something
> so far away, and what has gone into this. This is not your typical
> comet event as you know and is completely exploding off any graph for
> how magnitudes of comets normally evolve - that is at the heart.
>
> This event will go down as one of the most spectacular, if not the
> most spectacular, of its kind ever observed. If not for the prior
> much lesser outburst recorded for this comet, I would be more inclined
> to think it was an impact, than anything else. This is a comet that
> at closest approach to the Sun only makes a Vesta (Main belt asteroid,
> maximum concentration zone) distance. It virtually appeared out of
> nowhere into not only the eyepiece, but also the naked eye at 2.4+ AU.
> Nonetheless, your point about the coma is well accepted.
>
> I am blown away by rate at which it happened as the comet was already
> very well far on its way out. and after all, it is traveling at 2.2
> Km/s.
> Best wishes,
> Doug

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Received on Wed 24 Oct 2007 08:09:21 PM PDT