Sheer Luck Holmes A Bright Comet
A lucky crack may explain why Comet Holmes, back in view after a 115 year absence, is much brighter in the night sky than expected. Chelsea Wald reports.
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Your wait is over: Comet Holmes is back. Oh, you’ve never heard of it? Well, that’s actually not surprising, since until recently you needed a big telescope to see it. But on October 24th, it suddenly brightened. Now you can see it with your naked eye. Just look up at the constellation Perseus. Comet Holmes is the yellow fuzzball that's not on any star charts.
The comet was also having an outburst when skywatcher Edwin Holmes first spotted it in 1892. But scientists say it should be more docile than this, since it’s small and doesn’t fly as close to the sun as, say, Halley’s Comet. So what happened? If the comet’s surface cracked, the sun could have vaporized newly exposed ice, liberating dust and gas. And this comet’s yellow glow comes from sunlight reflecting off that dust. Now some skywatchers are reporting a tail growing on Comet Holmes, though its orientation means it’ll look stubby from Earth. Even so, this upstart snowball is exceeding all expectations.
—Chelsea Wald
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