Someone Needs to Talk to NASA and Get Them With The Program

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Uh-oh, NASA seems to have gone astray. Their picture of the day a few days back was one of Comet Holmes taken from Tehran.

Astronomy Picture of the Day, 2007 October 26

Comet Holmes in Outburst

Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi and (inset) Alan Friedman

Explanation: Comet 17P/Holmes stunned comet watchers across planet Earth earlier this week. On October 24, it increased in brightness over half a million times in a matter of hours. The outburst transformed it from an obscure and faint comet quietly orbiting the Sun with a period of about 7 years to a naked-eye comet rivaling the brighter stars in the constellation Perseus. Recorded on that date, this view from Tehran, Iran highlights the comet's (enhanced and circled) dramatic new visibility in urban skies. The inset (left) is a telescopic image from a backyard in Buffalo, New York showing the comet's greatly expanded coma, but apparent lack of a tail. Holmes' outburst could be due to a sudden exposure of fresh cometary ice or even the breakup of the comet nucleus. The comet may well remain bright in the coming days.

[Bill McBlueState]

1. everyone should check this out tonight!

Look in Perseus. You'll see a bunch of stars at first glance, but on closer inspection, one of them is surprisingly fuzzy. That's the comet. It's sort of yellowish, too.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. As a fellow terrist, I second that notion.

I went out to look at it twice last night. Fascinating. So easy to spot, too. Many links here:

Comet Holmes, "Just Awesome," Provides Nightly Spectacle With Its Sudden Brightness

[NeedleCast]

2. Obviously a UFO