Comet 17/P Holmes

Wow! I haven’t been paying attention lately; I heard there was a comet which had undergone an significant outburst, but my experience with comets hear in Brooklyn as been "that’s nice" and that’s about it. But after reading how bright it was, I went outside tonight with my 10×50 binoculars and tried to find it. I scanned around for a little while disoriented and couldn’t find it. So I went back in, looked at the charts and tried again.

Wow! It’s bright! Once I found it in the binoculars, I realized I was already seeing it with out them. A naked-eye comet from Brooklyn!

In my 10x50s (and my wife’s image stabilized 10x42s) it looks like a very bright, huge globular cluster. Hopefully the weather will remain good for the weekend the cub scouts will get a view of it during this weekend’s camping trip.

Wow!