17P/Holmes Oct 25

Randy Muller

It was not a dark sky -- nautical twilight had just started. Bright stars were visible, but the sky was by no means dark.

I knew the object was changing rapidly, so I decided to take a look this morning before going to work.

The appearance seemed changed from last night (Oct 24th) at 11:30pm PDT (Oct 25 6:30 UT).

It seemed less Jupiter-like, and more comet-like because it was a little larger and the edges were fuzzier. This impression was a little surprising to me, since the sky was much brighter, and if it had remained constant, it would have seemed smaller and sharper.

The color was still quite yellow, which is unusual for a bright comet in my experience.

I casually estimated the magnitude as roughly 2, only slightly fainter than Alpha Persei (Mirfak).

It is possible it was only my own eyes and perception that had changed after a night of restful sleep, but I think not.

In other news: The Alpha Persei association, a very large and rapidly dispersing group of stars, was gorgeous in the binoculars.

Naked eye and brilliant white Venus (mag -4) was beautiful in the east, with a dimmer yellowish Saturn (mag 1) above it. Cor Leonis (Regulus, the Heart of Leo) higher above made it a group of 3 bright objects in descending order of brightness.

High overhead, Mars shone brightly around mag -1 with its brilliant orange color. Opposition will be on Christmas Eve this year.