Is the sky map for Comet Holmes accurate?

[DaveC426913]

I went out and spotted Holmes tonight. Nice little blob next to Mirfak. Tomorrow I'll get out my scope.

I want to see its track so I'm looking for a sky map that shows its path.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Comet_Holmes_trajectory_TLR1.gif" but there's something weird about the map. It seems to label Mirfak (Perseus alpha) with the alternate name Alcheb but labels Perseus gamma as Algenib.

Is this map wrong?

I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcheb" , but it simply redirects to Mirfak.

 

[mgb_phys]

Alpha Persei does seem to have quite a few names!
clickable map of perseus here http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/peg-t.html

 

[DaveC426913]

Yes but the Wiki image seems to actually be mislabelled. It seems to list Perseus gamma as Alchenib.

 

[Integral]

mgb,
You have linked to a map of Pegasus, Not Perseus.http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/holmes-t.html" is persus with the track of Comet Holmes.

 

[mgb_phys]

Sorry, I got involved in the site - peg was the last one I looked at.

 

[DaveC426913]

I couldn't spot Perseus in a bucket but it's really easy to star hop from Cassiopeia. Holmes is visible even in a megacity.

Attached is my observation.

(I'll fix the spelling another time).

 

[Ouabache]

I watched Holmes also last night (northern hemisphere) Away from the city lights, i can see it unaided, with binoculars it very prominent (fuzz ball). In early evening, I found Perseus below Casseopeia. After midnight however, I was dismayed. Where did Perseus go? It threw me a bit, until I realized that after several hours, Perseus appears inverted.

 

[wildman]

Saw Holmes in our astronomy clubs' 25 inch telescope under a dark sky. My what a beauty. It looked for all the world like a jelly fish.

 

[elkoweb]

This comet really makes me wonder. Most comets you can see have a tail. Now this comet it looks like it has a large halo witch makes me think that it is coming strait towards earth. Maybe not a direct hit or anything like that but it does make me think. Not since I have been on this planet has a comet hit Earth but that's not to say that it has never happened. How would the general public really know. Its not like the government is going to say anything. just like all of the UFO stuff that has happened in the past. This is just my $.02

 

[Garth]

It is going away from the Earth near opposition, i.e. in our sky it is directly opposite the Sun, and the tail is flowing directly away from us.

Garth

 

[turbo]

The tail(s) can be seen in very deep-exposure photographs, though they are greatly foreshortened due to our viewing angle as Garth pointed out. If the outburst keeps up, we may get a better view of the tail as our vantage point improves.

 

[russ_watters]

This comet really makes me wonder. Most comets you can see have a tail. Now this comet it looks like it has a large halo witch makes me think that it is coming strait towards earth. Maybe not a direct hit or anything like that but it does make me think. Not since I have been on this planet has a comet hit Earth but that's not to say that it has never happened. How would the general public really know. Its not like the government is going to say anything. just like all of the UFO stuff that has happened in the past. This is just my $.02

Just to clarify a little what the others said, the tell does not point away from the direction of motion of the comet, it points directly away from the sun. So the fact that we can't see much of a tail just means it is on the other side of the sun from us. It doesn't imply anything at all abou the comet's direction of motion.

Also, Holmes is a periodic comet. It has been seen before. Any astronomer worth his salt could tell you that it is not on a collision course with earth. I have a planetarium program that plots its course through our sky.

 

[Garth]

Comet Holmes is getting bigger!

The spherical coma of Comet Holmes has swollen to a diameter of over 1.4 million kilometers, making the tenuous, dusty cloud even bigger than the Sun.

Garth

 

[DaveC426913]

Comet Holmes is getting bigger!

Garth

Has its brightness changed? Or more importantly, has its naked-eye visibility increased (whether by brightness or by size)?

I was out in the country 'tother day trying to show it to others but didn't spot it. If it's that large, I might have been missing the forest for the trees!

Too bad we've got lousy weather here in S.Ontario for the next week or so...

 

[tony873004]

I couldn't find it with the naked eye last night. A week or two ago it was easy to spot. But with binoculars I saw it. It is pretty big now.

 

[Ouabache]

i observed Holmes again last night. it appears more diffuse compared to my last observ. on 11-14 but very distinctive. From a viewer's perspective in the northern hemisphere, I notice it now appears to the right of Mirfak, as it tracks through Perseus. DaveC426913's original link indicates Holmes path and will make it easier to find, for those who are now looking.

 

[Garth]

You might want to take a closer look through the Hubble Space Telescope.

Garth