Comet 17P/Holmes

[Linney]

Anyone else out there a fan of astronomical events?

Tonight we went out into our backyard and were able to see Comet 17P/Homes with the naked eye. Pretty good trick given that we live in the Pacific Northwest, home of clouds and rain most of the time!

Here is a link to a collection of pictures:
Comet 17P/Holmes Photo Gallery, Comet Holmes

Here is the sky chart showing where the comet is located:
http://spaceweather.com/images2007/05nov07/skymap_north_holmes.gif

Just search on "17P/Holmes" in google to find out more.

--Linney

 

[Outtahere]

Dh and I saw it last night too, rain ended and right about sunset the clouds disappeared, made for a very clear night. I was also up early enough this morning to see the space shuttle and the space station (5am).

 

[ERD50]

Here is a great source:

Welcome to Heavens-Above

Saw my first iridium flare a few weeks ago. Not that exciting to see, but amazing that you can see it. The Iridium satellites used for the satellite phones have 3 antennae a few meters square, and as the rotate, they reflect light to a small strip of earth. It will pass by in a few seconds. All the angles and your position need to line up perfectly, but there are ~ 77 of 'em up there, so it happens routinely. You need to plug in your GPS coordinates - even a few miles off and the brightness diminishes. Right in the path, these things are a magnitude -8!

To get your GPS coords, center your location in google maps, then copy this to the address bar of your browser:

javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));

a dialog will pop up with the GPS coords - cool!

State & Adams in Chicago:

(41.8794629236871, -87.62772023677826)


-ERD50

 

[Goonie]

I was also up early enough this morning to see the space shuttle and the space station (5am).

We've gone out a few times and watched the shuttle and ISS fly over. Cool! We had planned on going out this morning to watch, but it was only 21 degrees outside, so we opted to miss it this time.....it would have been (too) Cool!!

Spike O'Dell said some of the folks at WGN Radio (Chicago) went out and saw it, so I just lived vicariously through them today while I stayed tucked under the covers.

NASA has some neat stuff to play with. You can find your city under the "Sighting Opportunities" on their "sightings" page. They also have "SkyWatch" which is an applet to track and find sightings of the ISS, Shuttle, and other things.

 

[Bigritchie]

Yea I have been keeping track of the Comet since the big explosion or whatever happened.

pretty amazing it went from being so small to 7 times the size of Jupiter now. I cannot believe the media has not been all over this. Clearly Britney Spears is more important.

 

[CCdaCE]

Wow, a thread that is absolutely jam-packed with info.!

I like the java pop-up for GPS coords.

javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter())); <--------- handy! Just have to remove the space between the 'ge' and the 't' at getCenter.

Thanks for the heads-up!

-CC

 

[Gumby]

Just went outside to look for it. Overcast, unfortunately. I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[ERD50]

Thanks for pointing out the extra space.

I have no idea how that extra space got in there, I did a copy/paste same as this time....


javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));

javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));



whoah!!!! in the text box, no space. In preview, space ?

for some unknown reason, a space got inserted. Something in the forum software must be sticking the space in there.... Can't imagine why.

Well, remove the space to make it work.... - ERD50

 

[Linney]

Just went outside to look for it. Overcast, unfortunately. I'll try again tomorrow.

We took another look at it tonight. From our PNW vantage point the comet appears to be getting dimmer. Due to a change in the weather it will be a couple days before we can get another sighting in. The most recent photos on the spaceweather.com page are still a delight.

-Linney

 

[Sue J]

Yes, we've been watching the comet. And we go out to see the space shuttle and space station, too!

My husband just bought astronomical binoculars. They are kind of heavy, but can be mounted on a tripod. Now we just need a clear night.