Nov 16, 2007 6:48 AM

Get Off the Couch and Look at Comet Holmes This Weekend

On October 26th Comet Holmes burst onto the scene brightening "a million times" in just a few hours. It went from an obscure comet to an object visible with the naked eye- as bright as a normal visible star (magnitude 2 1/2). It is viewable till next March- but who knows for how long it […]

It is viewable till next March- but who knows for how long it will be in this expanded bright state. I recommend going out TONIGHT or TOMORROW night since the first quarter moon will have set by ~10:30 tonight and ~11:40 pm Saturday and the comet will be visible all night in suburban mid latitudes of the north hemisphere.

As a bonus the Leonid Meteor shower will also be Saturday night. So you can look at the comet while you wait for shooting stars to pass overhead. There is even clear skies predicted Saturday night for much of the Eastern seaboard. More directions on finding the comet after the jump.

I have included a map of the sky that includes better known constellations like the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper and Cassiopeia to help orient you since saying something is "in Perseus" wouldn't help me find anything in the night sky.

According to NASA's JPL:

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!

It should look like a fuzzy disk. John Borland talks more about why its an interesting fuzzy disk here.
Sky and Telescope claims that the disk is as big as the full moon or the sun. While this is a claim I would usually be skeptical of, since its coming from Sky and Telescope- I will just have to go outside this weekend and see for myself!

November 14th: The comet is still as bright as ever, and it has now grown to at least 30 arcminutes — as wide as the Sun or the full Moon. The surface brightness is decreasing as the light spreads out over a larger area, but the comet is still visible through binoculars and to the naked eye from typical suburban locations.

They also explain why it suddenly got so bright.