[sac-forum] FW: [ASKC] holmes size & data article

Good article and link on Holmes, “The Biggest Thing in the Solar System” (right 
now, anyway).

 

Dick H

 

 

From: ASKC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ASKC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 

Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 8:05 AM
Subject: [ASKC] holmes size & data article

 

article, links, and pics at:
_http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071115-comet-holmes-size.html_ 
(http://www.space.com/spacewatch/071115-comet-holmes-size.html) 

Incredible Comet Bigger than the Sun 
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 15 November 2007
10:38 am ET

A comet that has delighted backyard astronomers in recent weeks after an 
unexpected eruption has now grown larger than the sun.
The sun remains by far the most massive object in the solar system, with an 
extended influence of particles that reaches all the planets. But the 
comparatively tiny Comet Holmes has released so much gas and dust that its 
extended 
atmosphere, or coma, is larger than the diameter of the sun. The comparison 
is clear in a new image. 
"It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the solar 
system," according to astronomers at the University of Hawaii. 
The coma's diameter on Nov. 9 was 869,900 miles (1.4 million kilometers), 
based on measurements by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the 
University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. They used observations from the 
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The sun's diameter, stated differently by 
various sources and usually rounded to the nearest 100, is about 864,900 miles 
(1.392 million kilometers).
Separately, a new Hubble Space Telescope photo of the comet reveals an 
intriguing bow-tie structure around its nucleus.
The comet's coma—mostly microscopic particles—shines by reflecting sunlight.
See for yourself 
Holmes is still visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star anytime after dark, 
high in the northeast sky. You can find it by using this sky map. It is 
faintly visible from cities, and from dark country locations is truly 
remarkable. 
"Right now, in a dark sky it appears as a very noticeable circular cloud," 
said Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Skywatching Columnist. Rao advises looking for the 
comet this weekend, before the moon becomes more of a factor. The comet will 
likely diminish in brightness yet remain visible for the next two to three 
weeks, he said. 
"Over the next few weeks and months, the coma and tail are expected to 
expand even more while the comet will fade as the dust disperses," Stevenson 
and 
her colleagues write. 
On Monday, Nov. 19, the comet will create a unique skywatching event with 
its see-through coma, according to the Web site Spaceweather.com: "The comet 
will glide by the star Mirfak [also called Alpha Persei] and appear to swallow 
it—a sight not to be missed."
A small telescope will reveal the fuzzy coma. Lacking a long tail 
characteristic of some great comets, however, Holmes is not the most dramatic 
object in 
the sky for casual observers.
Mystery outburst 
Nobody knows why Holmes erupted, but it underwent a similar explosive 
brightening in 1892. The recent display, which began Oct. 24, brought the comet 
from visual obscurity to being one of the brighter objects in the night sky. It 
has since dimmed somewhat as the material races outward from the nucleus at 
roughly 1,100 mph (0.5 km/sec). 
The Hawaiian astronomy team writes in a press statement: "This amazing 
eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid nucleus 
made 
of ice and rock, only 3.6 kilometers (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter."
The new image from the Hawaiian observatory also shows a modest tail forming 
to one side, now just a fuzzy region to the lower-right. That's caused by 
the pressure of sunlight pushing on the gas and dust of the coma. 
But the comet is so far away—149 million miles (240 million kilometers), or 
about 1.6 times the distance from Earth to the sun—that even Hubble can't 
resolve its nucleus.
The offset nature of the coma, seen in ground-based images, suggests "a 
large fragment broke off and subsequently disintegrated into tiny dust 
particles 
after moving away from the main nucleus," Hubble astronomers said in a 
statement today. The comet's distance, plus all the dust, prevent Hubble from 
seeing any fragments, however. 
...click the following for more ...
The Greatest Comets of All Time 
Video: Comets Through Time ... Myths and Mystery 
Comet Image Gallery 


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