2008 Woodie Awards
Students see Comet Holmes
Kristen McKenzie
Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: News
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The professors are equipped with telescopes and binoculars for students to view planets, stars and locate the comet. On Oct. 24, the comet brightened a millionfold in less than 48 hours.
Chaz Hafey, science lab coordinator, said the comet was discovered by accident in 1892 by British astronomer Edwin Holmes. He was observing the sky when the comet had a similar outburst.
Hafey said a comet is a celestial object orbiting the sun on a long path.
When a comet is not near the sun it only has a nucleus, a solid frozen core of dust, gases and water. When it gets close to the sun the nucleus heats up and gives off a gaseous coma surrounding the nucleus.
Hafey said a comet usually has two tails; one is the dust tail and the other is the ionized gas tail from the comet coma. The tail of Comet 17P Holmes is slowly becoming visible, but the sun's energy pushes the tail away from it making it hard to see.
The comet orbits the sun every seven years. Scientists aren't sure why the comet has brightened, but they hypothesize that sinkholes in its nucleus collapsed and exposed ice to the sun.
The ice then turned to gas and created a cloud of dust, called the coma, which is illuminated by the sun.
"Any phenomena we haven't seen before is interesting to try and explain and make sense of," Hafey said. "We try and find similar examples and then compare their differences and new possibilities."
He said we live in such a fast-paced society that very few people have and take the time to look up at the sky and familiarize themselves with what is up there.
The comet's coma is now bigger than the size of Jupiter, and can be seen in the northern sky in the constellation Perseus. Hafey said the faintest visible star to the naked eye is a visual magnitude of six.
Before the burst of brightness, the magnitude of the comet was only 17, now it is a two.
It has faded since it brightened but is still visible to the unaided eye and easily spotted with binoculars.
"The comet was awesome," Joy Nelson, nursing sophomore, said. "I never knew it could get so bright. Everyone should try and witness this one."
Astronomers aren't sure how long the brightness will last. It could only last a few more weeks, but it may last for months.
To view the comet, students can join the astronomy professors north of the K Building and west of the P Building in the parking lot on Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
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