. 24/7 Space News .
Catch A Comet - No Telescope Required

Night sky chart showing comet Holmes
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 01, 2007
Usually comets are challenging little no-see-um fuzzballs. To see one often requires a dark sky, a good chart or a telescope that can "go-to" the object automatically. This week there is a newly visible comet in the sky and it can be seen with the unaided eye! Last week, Periodic comet Holmes (17P/Holmes), a very faint comet far from the sun experienced an outburst and brightened a million times in just a few hours. The comet puffed up (it's still expanding), changed color and wowed viewers around the world.

The Astronomy Photo of the day for October 30 (visit: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071030.html) shows the comet's current apparent size in the sky - compared to Jupiter, which you can also see in the west after sunset.

To see the comet, all you have to do is step outside and look to the Northeast. You should be able to see the "W" that is the constellation Cassiopeia - it's standing on its end. One and a half "fists" away to the right is a bright star in the constellation Perseus. You probably won't be able to see all the Perseus stars, but the bright one - Mirfak - should be visible. It marks the top of a triangle, which is about the size of your thumb held at arms length away. The triangle's lower left corner is the comet! Use our sky chart to help you find the comet.

The comet will stay with us for a while, so weather permitting, you'll get a look this week or next.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
JPL
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


It Came From Vesta
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 30, 2007
Their infiltration began - like so many other infiltrations - with a tell-tale contrail of smoke and flame creating a supersonic slash across the afternoon sky. But this time they would not go unnoticed. This time, two Australian station workers, just going about their job, opening a gate to a boundary fence, witnessed their arrival. The eyewitnesses later said they observed a "fireball with sparks coming off," streaking from the south to the north, make its descent into a hummock of spinifex grass. It would be another 10 years before they told their story. A decade before the world realized -- the Eucrites had arrived.







  • Outside View: Row over Baikonur
  • China to deploy theft patrol on Everest
  • I Want To Be A Space Millionaire
  • Canine pioneer: Soviet mutt was first earthling in space

  • Mars Express Probes Red Planet's Unusual Deposits
  • Spirit Continues Studies Of Rocks On Home Plate
  • Phoenix: Tasks En Route To Mars Include Course Tweak And Gear Checks
  • Mars Ice Shaken Not Stirred

  • South Korean Rocket To Make First Launch In 2008
  • Russia To Launch German Satellite On November 1st
  • Arianespace Prepares The Fifth And Sixth Ariane 5 For 2007 Launches
  • Russia launches first Proton rocket after crash

  • NASA Data May Help Improve Estimates Of A Hurricane's Punch
  • DMCii Satellite Imaging Helps Dramatically Reduce Deforestation Of Amazon Basin
  • NASA Views Southern California Fires And Winds
  • A Roadmap For Calibration And Validation

  • Goddard Instrument Makes Cover Of Science
  • Checking Out New Horizons
  • Pluto-Bound New Horizons Sees Changes In Jupiter System
  • Maneuver Puts New Horizons On A Straight Path To Pluto

  • Bonn Astronomers Simulate Life And Death In The Universe
  • Hubble - Graceful Dance Of Interacting Galaxies
  • Bonn Astronomers Simulate Life And Death In The Universe
  • Dwarf Galaxies Need Dark Matter Too

  • NASA To Establish Nationwide Lunar Science Institute
  • If We Had No Moon
  • China Eyes The Moon
  • China's Lunar Orbiter, The Story Behind "Moon Lady" Chang'e

  • Broad Reach Engineering GPS Receiver Launched On TerraSAR-X Mission
  • Russia Launches Proton Carrier Rocket After The Ban
  • EU's Galileo satnav scheme needs millions more next year: MEPs
  • Another GPS Satellite Successfully Launched

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement